National  Conference  of  Social 
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Social  Standards  for  Industry 


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SOCIAL   STANDARDS   FOR 
INDUSTRY 

J  Platform 


BY 

THE  COMMITTEE  ON  STANDARDS  OF 
LIVING    AND    LABOR 

OWEN    R.    LOVEJOV,    Chairman 


* 


NATIONAL  CONFERENCE 
OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO 

JUNE  12-19,  191.: 

1,1 !  r'lr.Y 

Institute  of  Indur' -'^.1  PelationB 

Univcrrlty  of  California 

Los  Angeles  24,  California 


REPORT. 

The  following  statement  by  the  Committee  on  Standards  of 
Living  and  Labor  is  prepared  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
with  the  advice  and  approval  of  its  members. 

While  individual  members  of  the  committee  have  presented 
a  variety  of  opinions  on  the  topics,  this  statement  expresses  the 
majority  view,  and  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  paragraphs 
is  signed  in  its  entirety  by  all  members  of  the  committee. 

Owen  R.  Lovejoy,  Chairman. 


COMMITTEE     ON    STANDARDS     OF    LIVING    AND     LABOR, 
NATIONAL   CONFERENCE  OF  CHARITIES  AND   COR- 
RECTION, CLEVELAND,  OHIO,  JUNE  12-19,  1912. 

Owen  R.  Lovejoy,  Chairman,  105  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Mrs.     Raymond     Robins,     Vice-Chairman,     1437     West     Ohio     Street, 

Chicago,   111. 
Dr.  John  B.  Andrews,  i  Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Julius  Henry  Cohen,  15  William  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Dr.  Edward  T.  Devine,  105  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Dr.  Lee  K.  Frankel,  i   Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  John  Golden,  Fall  River,  Mass. 

Miss  Pauline  Goldmark,  105  West  40th  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Dr.  Alice  Hamilton,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Alexander  Johnson,  ex  officio.  Secretary  of  the  Conference. 
Mrs.  Florence  Kelley,  106  East  19th  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Paul  U.  Kellogg,  105  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Rev.  Charles  S.  Macfarland,  215  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  Julian  W.  Mack,  President  of  the  Conference. 
V.  Everit  Macy,  68  Broad  Street,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Benjamin  C.  Marsh,  320  Broadway,  New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Mrs.  Dexter  Otey,  Lynchburg,  Va. 
Prof.  W^alter  Rauschenbusch,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Rev.  John  A.  Ryan,  St.  Paul's  Seminary,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 
Hon.  A.  T.  Stovall,  Okalona,  Miss. 

Harry  Thomas,  310  Prospect  Avenue,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Hon.  William  B.  Wilson,   Blossburg,  Pa. 

New  York,   1912. 


H 


SOCIAL   STANDARDS   FOR   INDUSTRY.     A    PLATFORM. 

PREAMBLK. 

THE  STANDARD  OF  LI\IX(,. 

The  welfare  of  society  and  the  prosperity  of  tlie  state  require 
for  each  individual  such  food,  clothing,  housing  conditions,  and 
other  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  as  will  secure  and  maintain 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  health.  These  are  essential  elements 
in  a  normal  standard  of  living,  below  which  society  cannot  allow 
any  of  its  memliers  to  live  without  injuring  the  public  welfare. 
An  increasing  percentage  of  our  population  derives  the  means  to 
maintain  this  normal  standard  through  industry.  Industry  there- 
fore must  submit  to  such  public  regulation  as  will  make  it  a  means 
of  life  and  health,  not  of  death  or  inefficiency. 

This  regulation  has  to  do  with  hours,  safety,  over-strain,  and 
other  conditions  of  the  day's  labor;  with  premature  employment, 
unemployment,  incapacity,  and  other  factors  which  shorten  or 
impair  the  length  of  the  working  life;  with  wages  as  the  basis 
which  work  affords  for  a  normal  standard  of  home  life;  with 
unwise  taxation  and  other  community  conditions  which  in  our 
industrial  centers  exploit  wages ;  with  insurance  against  those 
risks  of  trade — death,  injury,  occupational  disease — which  break  in 
upon  the  working  years  and  wipe  out  earnings;  and  with  protec- 
tion against  poverty  in  old  age  when  productive  lalx)r  is  ended. 

The  community  has  a  right  to  complete  knowledge  of  the 
facts  of  work. 

The  community  can  cause  to  be  fornnilated  iniiiiniuni  occupa- 
tional standards  below  which  work  is  carried  on  only  at  a  human 
deficit. 

The  community  should  bring  such  subnormal  industrial  con- 
ditions within  the  scope  of  governmental  action  and  control,  in  the 
same  way  subnormal  sanitary  conditions  are  subject  to  public  regu- 
lation, and  for  the  same  reason — because  they  threaten  general 
welfare. 

Such  minimum  standards  in  relatit^i  to  Wages,  Hours,  Hous- 
ing. Safety  and  Health.  Term  of  Working  Life,  and  Workman's 
Compensation  are  called  for  if  the  United  States  is  to  keep  abreast 
with  the  social  statesmanship  of  other  great  industrial  nations; 
they  are  counseled  by  physicians  and  neurologists  who  have  studied 


Library 
Institute  of  Industrial  Pelati  r ^ 
U'-iverrity  of  C".' i  fornia 
8412SSMg^®3  24,   California 


v  I 


the  effect  of  fatigue  and  over-strain  upon  health;  by  economists 
who  have  analyzed  the  extravagance  of  unskilled  labor,  excessive 
hours,  and  low  pay;  and  by  social  workers  who  deal  with  the 
human  wastes  of  industry  through  relief  societies,  or  through 
orphanages,  hospitals,  insane  asylums,  and  alms  houses. 

Wherever  they  are  not  the  standards  of  given  establishments 
or  given  industries,  are  unprovided  for  by  legislatures,  or  are 
balked  by  unenlightened  courts,  the  community  pays  a  heavy  cost 
in  lessened  efficiency,  and  in  misery.  Where  they  are  sanctioned 
and  enforced,  the  conservation  of  our  human  resources  contributes 
the  most  substantial  asset  to  the  wealth  of  the  future. 

NOTE :    The  Planks  in  this  Platform  are : 

Wages  Page  5 

Hours "  13 

Safety  and  Health "  19 

Housing "  27 

Term  of  Working  Life "  35 

Compensation  or  Insurance "  41 

Following  each  plank  annotations  are  inserted  as  follows : 

A.  Specific  information  bearing  on  the  topic. 

B.  Federal,  State,  or  Foreign  laws  that  apply. 

C.  Standards  already  accepted  by  social  welfare 

organizations. 

This  supplementary  material  is  intended  to  be  illustra- 
tive and  not  exhaustive. 


I.    WAGES. 

1.  A  Living  Wage.  A  living  wage  for  all  who  devote  their 
time  and  energy  to  industrial  occupations.  The  monetary  equiva- 
lent of  a  livini;  wage  varies  according  to  local  conditions,  but  must 
include  enough  to  secure  the  elements  of  a  normal  standard  of 
living;  to  provide  for  education  and  recreation;  to  care  for  im- 
mature members  of  the  family ;  to  maintain  the  family  during 
periods  of  sickness;  and  to  permit  of  reasonable  saving  for  old  age. 

2.  MixiMu.M  Wage  Commissions.  iMany  industrial  occupa- 
tions, especially  where  women,  children,  and  immigrant  men  are 
employed,  do  not  pay  wages  to  maintain  a  normal  standard  of 
living.  Minimum  wage  commissions  should  therefore  be  estab- 
lished in  each  state  to  inquire  into  wages  paid  in  various  indus- 
tries, and  to  determine  the  standard  which  the  public  will  sanction 
as  the  minimum. 

3.  Wage  Publicity.  Properly  constituted  authorities  should 
be  empowered  to  require  all  employers  to  file  with  them  for  public 
purposes  such  wage  scales,  and  other  data  as  to  earnings  as  the 
public  element  in  industry  demands.  The  movement  for  honest 
weights  and  measures  has  its  counterpart  in  industry.  All  tallies, 
scales,  and  check  systems  should  be  open  to  public  inspection  and 
inspection  of  committees  of  the  workers  concerned.  Qianges  in 
wage  rates,  systems  of  dockage,  bonuses,  and  all  other  modifica- 
tions of  the  wage  contract  should  be  posted,  and  wages  should  be 
paid  in  cash  at  least  every  two  weeks. 

A.     SPECIFIC  IXFORM.\TION   ON  WAGES. 

Family  Incomes. — In  an  investigation  covering  3,297,819 
wage  earners,  the  average  weekly  earnings  of  all  classes  are 
$10.06;  for  men  above  16  years,  $11.16;  for  women,  $6.17;  for 
children  under  16.  $3.46.  Out  of  the  total  number  of  men  in- 
cluded in  the  statistics,  i. 215. 798,  or  46  per  cent.,  earned  $10.00 
or  less  a  week.     (U.  S.  Bulletin  93,  Census  of  Manufactures, 

1905) 

It  is  simply  impossible  for  a  family  of  five  to  maintam  a 
decent  standard  of  living  on  an  income  of  $10  a  week;  hence 


wives  and  children  are  compelled  to  participate  in  the  fierce 
struggle  for  existence.  (United  States  Bureau  of  Labor, 
1908.) 

"An  investigation  of  131  families  in  New  York  City,  en- 
gaged in  making  artificial  fiowers  at  home  in  1912,  showed  the 
average  wage  of  the  father  $9.20  per  week,  the  average  rent 
$3.01  per  week,  average  size  of  family  6  persons."  (Watson, 
Elizabeth  C:  "Home  Work  in  New  York  City,"  National 
Child  Labor  Committee.) 

Of  1,217  families  studied  in  Washington,  39  per  cent,  had 
an  income  of  $500  or  less;  and  only  8  per  cent,  had  an  income 
of  over  $1,000.  (p.  3.)  The  39  per  cent,  above  referred  to — 
those  receiving  less  than  $500  per  year — spent  43.68  per  cent, 
of  their  income  for  food.  "The  question  of  food  .  .  .  is  of 
special  significance  from  an  economic  standpoint  in  families 
of  limited  means."  (President's  Homes  Commission:  Report 
of  Committee  on  Social  Betterment,   G.  M.   Kober.) 

"It  appears  that  half  of  the  adult  males  of  the  United 
States  are  earning  less  than  $500  a  year;  that  three-quarters 
of  them  are  earning  less  than  $600  annually;  that  nine-tenths 
are  receiving  less  than  $800  a  year  ...  A  corresponding 
computation  of  the  wages  of  women  shows  that  one-fifth  earn 
less  than  $200  annually;  three-fifths  are  receiving  less  than 
$325;  that  nine-tenths  are  earning  less  than  $500  a  year."  The 
above  computation  allows  for  loss  through  unemployment. 
(Nearing:     "Wages  in  the  United  States."  p.  313.) 

It  seems  safe  to  conclude  that  an  income  under  $800  is 
not  enough  to  permit  the  maintenance  of  a  normal  standard. 
A  survey  of  the  details  of  expenditure  for  each  item  in  the 
budget  shows  some  manifest  deficiency  for  almost  every 
family  in  the  $600  and  $700  groups.  Fuel  is  gathered  on  the 
street  by  half  of  the  $600  families;  one-third  of  them  are  not 
able  to  afford  gas;  one-third  are  within  the  22-cent  minimum 
limit  for  food,  and  20  per  cent,  of  the  $700  families  spend 
22  cents  or  under.  (Chapin,  "Standard  of  Living  in  New  York 
City,"  p.  245.) 

Of  25,440  families  studied,  16  per  cent,  had  deficits  averag- 
ing $65  to  $68;  while  33.44  per  cent,  of  the  families  barely 
finish  the  financial  year  without  contracting  debt.  (New  York 
Bureau  of  Labor,   i8th  Annual  Report.) 

There  are  in  the  United  States  at  least  five  million  indus- 
trial workmen  who  are  earning  $600  or  less  a  year.  "Such  a 
state  of  affairs  that  during  a  year  of  prosperity  one-sixth  of 
all  families  fall  into  debt,  and  49  per  cent,  are  unable  to  save 
for  a  rainy  day,  is  insufferable."  (Streightoff,  "Standards  of 
Living.") 

In  the  lowest  expenditure  group  of  budget  families  the 
average  weekly  outlay  was  $9-^7,  and  the  averages  for  items 
were:  Rent,  $1.88;  food,  $4.16;  fuel,  $.38;  clothing.  $.94;  fur- 
niture, $.09;  household  expenses,  $.15;  insurance.  $.70;  tobacco, 
$.07;  liquor,  $.20;  medicine,  $.10;  other  expenses,  $.50.  For  a 
family  of  normal  size  this  provides  only  a  two-room  tenement 
in  a  crowded  court,  with  no  sanitary  conveniences;  a  supply 
of  food  below  the  minimum  sufficient  for  mere  physical  well- 
being;  insurance  that  makes  provision  which  is  utterly  inade- 
quate for  the  family  left  without  a  breadwinner;  a  meagre 
expenditure  for  clothes  and  furniture,  and  an  almost  negligible 
margin  for  recreation,  education,  and  savings.  (Byington, 
Margaret  F.,  "Homestead,  the  Households  of  a  Mill  Town." 
p.  102.) 

6 


A  "fair  living  wage"  for  a  workingman's  family  of  average 
size  in  New  York  City  should  be  at  least  $72«  a  year,  or  a 
steady  income  of  $14  a  week.  (More,  Louise  Bolard,  "Wage- 
Earners*  Budgets."  p.  269.) 

Wages  ok  Women. — Investigations  show  that  the  least  sum 
on  which  a  girl  can  live  in  New  York  is  $9.00  a  week.  (New 
York  City  Consumers'  League,  1912). 

L)nly  II  per  cent,  of  girls  employed  in  department  stores 
in  Kansas  City  (573)  receive  a-,  much  as  the  cslimated  mini- 
mum wage — $9.00  a  week;  while  32  per  cent,  receive  $500  a 
week  or  less.  ...  Of  574  girls  employed  in  factories,  34^ 
or  60  per  cent,  received  $0oo  or  less  per  week.  (Board  of 
Public    Welfare,    Kansas    City,    Missouri.) 

Of  22,185  women  studied,  61.80  per  cent,  earned  less 
than  $7.00;  20.85  per  cent,  from  $7.00  to  $8.00;  and  17-35 
per  cent,  over  $8.00.  Estimated  living  wage  in  Pittsburgh. 
$7.00.     (Butler:  "Woman  and  the  Trades,"  p.  337) 

Of  2,690  women  workers  in  department  stores,  telepjione 
exchanges,  and  laundries.  1.801  received  from  $6.50  to  $4.00; 
and  743  less  than  $400  a  week.  (p.  5)  "Two-thirds  of  the 
working  women  in  Kentucky  leceive  $6.50  or  less  per  week; 
and  one-quarter  <>i  them  receive  $4.00  or  less  per  week."  (p. 
8.)  The  minimum  living  wage  for  Louisville  is  $6.50.  (Com- 
mission to  Investigate  Conditions  of  Working  Women  in  Ken- 
tucky; Report,  Dec,  191 1.) 

Of  7,540  women  studied  in  mercantile  houses  m  1907,  5-510, 
or  73  per  cent.,  received  less  than  $6.00  a  week.  (Butler: 
"Women  and  the  Trades,"  p.  304) 

Out  of  a  studv  of  301  girls  in  New  Y'ork  department 
stores,  in  343  cases  the  averaj."e  total  wage  is  $6.00  a  week, 
in  analyzing  the  incomes  of  241  saleswomen,  the  report  shows 
108  received  less  than  $6.00;  206  received  less  than  $900. 
Thus,  only  35,  or  uj^  per  cent.,  received  an  amount  equivalent 
to  the  least  sum  on  which  a  girl  can  live  in  New  York. 
(United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  Report  on  Conditions  of 
Women  and  Child  Wage  Earners.)  ....     r.  1 

Of  4,048  women  department  store  workers  studied  in  Bal- 
timore, 2,184,  or  =,4  per  cent.,  earn  less  than  $5.00;  3.266.  or 
81  per  cent.,  less  than  $6.00  per  week.  Calculated  minimum 
living  wage.  $6.70.  (Butler:  "Saleswomen  in  Mercantile 
Stores,"  Baltimore,  1909,  p.  113) 

Monthly  Expenditure  for  Girls  Living  Away  from  Home: 
Room   rent    (lodging   in   other    family's    apartment, 

no   privacy)    P"    '"O-        ?4-00 

Food:  Breakfast  (average  wr.rking  girl  takes  coffee, 
bread,  and  butter,   self-prepared),  daily   10  cents, 

per  mo.         300 
Lunch   (sandwiches,  tea),  daily  15  cents,  per  mo.  45° 

Sui>per  (hot  meal,  minimum  cost),  daily  20  cents. 

per  mo.,         6.00 

$1750 

Carfares  to  and  from  work   per  mo.  2.50 

Newspapers    pernio.  .50 

Clothes   per  mo.  700 

$27  50 

Annual    expenses    ••$33000 

(New  York  Section  of  the  Council  of  Jewish  Women.) 

7 


Forty-one  per  cent,  of  the  candy  workers,  10.2  per  cent,  of 
the  saleswomen,  16.1  per  cent,  of  the  laundry  workers,  and 
2S  per  cent,  of  the  cotton  workers  earn  less  than  $5.00  a 
week;  and  65.2  per  cent.,  29.5  per  cent.,  40.7  per  cent.,  and 
37.9  per  cent,  of  them  respectively  earn  less  than  $6.00  a  week. 
(Report  of  the  Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  Mass., 
p.   10.) 

"The  lower  a  woman's  wages,  the  more  timid  she  is  of 
.any  sort  of  disturbance  of  the  unstable  equilibrium  of  her 
livelihood.  Trade-unionism  and  similar  movements  have  never 
flourished  amongst  the  poorest  class  of  workers."  (Wise, 
IE.  F.,  "Wage  Boards  in  England,"  American  Economic  Re- 
view, March,  1912. 

Women  entering  industry  do  not  bargain  with  employers 
concerning  wages;  and  often  do  not  know  beforehand  what 
they  are  to  receive.  (Kentucky  Commission  to  Investigate 
Conditions  of  Working  Women,   191 1,  p.  36.) 

Concerning  wages  of  children  in  the  Gulf  Coast  canneries, 
Lewis  W.  Hine,  staff  photographer  of  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee,  says:  "It  is  not  at  all  rare  to  see  four-  and 
five-year-olds  struggling  with  the  rough  shells,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  day  earning  about  five  cents.  .  .  .  The  earn- 
ings of  the  very  little  ones  are  not  usually  over  five  cents  a 
day.  .  .  .  Several  of  seven  and  eight  years  earn  from  ten 
cents  to  'two  bits.'"  (Hine,  Lewis  W.:  "Child  Labor  in 
Gulf  Coast  Canneries.") 

"The  very  act  of  eliminating  immature  children  from  em- 
ployment tends  to  raise  the  wages  of  the  older  members  of  the 
family,  for  in  any  occupation  where  children  can  be  employed, 
their  employment  tends  to  bring  down  the  wages  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  child  standard."  (McKelway,  Dr.  A.  J.:  "Child 
Labor  in  Mississippi.") 

"The  poor  widow  with  her  children  to  support  was  not 
found  among  the  home  finishers  (of  garments).  If  she  were 
a  factor,  her  poor  children  would  starve,  as  the  remuneration 
for  this  class  of  labor  falls  far  short  of  supporting  its  most 
diligent  and  tireless  workers.  (United  States  Senate  Docu- 
ment 645,  Vol.  VIII.) 

"Higher  earnings  and  increased  industrial  efficiency  go 
far  toward  developing  in  working  women  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, personal  and  social."  (Butler:  "Women  and  the 
Trades,"  p.   3~^.) 

Minimum  Wage  Boards. — "Two  uncontroverted  facts  stand 
out  clearly:  first,  that  the  best  wages  are  paid  in  the  most 
strictly  regulated  trades.  Where  the  limitation  of  hours  is 
most  defined  and  best  enforced,  wages  are  invariably  highest. 
The  unregulated  trades,  with  the  longest  hours,  are  the  most 
sweated  and  underpaid.  Second,  while  we  cannot  assert  that 
the  operation  of  factory  laws  has  been  the  direct  cause  of 
higher  wages,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  sequel  of  shorter 
hours  has  almost  invariably  been  a  rise  in  wages,  even  after 
a  temporary  loss.  Output  .  .  .  has  been  maintained  and 
increased  in  the  shortened  hours.  The  main  cause  for  this  has 
been  the  increased  efficiency  of  the  workers,  and  this  is  the 
explanation  also  of  the  seeming  paradox  of  twelve  hours'  pay 
for  ten  hours'  work,  and  ten  hours'  pay  for  eight  hours' 
work."     (Goldmark,   Josephine,    "Fatigue   and    Efficiency,"    p. 

"The  justification  of  the  minimum  standard-of-living  wage 
must  be  found     ...     in  the  social  necessity  for  the  main- 

8 


tenance  of  the  family."  Results  of  minimum  wage:  In  indus- 
tries serving  local  markets  and  free  from  outside  competition, 
wages  would  probably  increase  anil  the  luiniber  of  workers 
remain  the  same;  in  industries  serving  wider  market  and  sub- 
ject to  competition,  raise  of  wago  would  be  accompanied  by 
decrease  in  employment.  Some  industries  (sweated  indus- 
tries) would  cease  to  exist.  (Iltdcomhe,  A.  N.;  "The  Legal 
Minimum  Wage  in  the  United  Stales,"  American  Economic 
Review,  March,   1912,  p.  34.) 

"Experience  has  shown  that  the  injurious  results  (of  mini- 
mum wage  boards)  predicted  by  the  oppijnents  of  labor  legis- 
lation and  labor  organizations  iiave  not  taken  place.  In  a 
majority  of  instances  the  greater  part  of  the  additional  cost 
(of  wages)  has  been  met  by  an  increased  efliciency  in  the  pro- 
ductive process.  .  .  .  Another  part  has  come  out  of  the 
profits  of  those  concerns  that  were  obtaining  more  than  the 
usual  amount  of  interest  on  their  investment."  Ryan.  Rev. 
John  .'\.:  "Minimum  Wages  and  Mininmm  Wage  Boards,"  The 
Survey,  September  3,   1910.) 

"Neither  will  the  assumed  saving  in  the  prices  of  the 
goods  produced  by  the  exploited  worker  equal  the  loss  due  to 
lower  indu-trial  etViciency,  sickness,  poverty,  and  crime.  .  .  . 
By  expediency  as  well  as  by  morality  the  parasitic  indU'^try 
stands  condemned.  .  .  .  As  a  general  rule,  an  industry  that 
is  not  self-supporting,  that  cannot  pay  living  wages  to  all  its 
employes,  has  no  valid  reason  for  existing.     (Ibid.) 

Results  of  Minimum  Wage:  1.  Protection  against  class 
legislation;  2,  distinction  made  between  unemployable  and  un- 
employed; 3,  restriction  of  competition  between  workers;  4, 
restriction  of  competition  between  employers.  "The  indirect 
economic  effect  of  the  establishment  of  a  minimum  standard- 
of-living  wage  would  be  to  promote  the  concentration  of  com- 
petition between  work  people  and  between  employers  upon 
efficiency."  (Ilolconihe,  A.  .\.:  "Le^al  Minimum  Wage  in  the 
United  States,"  American  Economic  Review,  March,  1912, 
p.  36.) 

A  legal  minimum  wage  would  lead  to  better  distribution  of 
immigrants  among  various  industries.  (Holcombe.  A.  N.: 
"Legal  Minimum  \\'age  in  the  L'nited  States,"  American  Eco- 
nomic  Review,    March,   1912,  p.  35.) 

"Nothing  but  the  rise  of  the  masses  to  a  plane  above 
uncertainties  of  income  can  give  to  society  an  improving, 
stable,  physical  heredity."  (Tatten,  Simon  N.:  "New'  Basis 
of  Civilization,"  p.  43.) 

"Women  in  general  are  working  because  of  dire  necessity, 
and  in  most  cases  the  combined  inctjme  of  the  family  is  not 
more  than  adequate  to  meet  the  family's  cost  of  living.  In 
these  cases  it  is  not  optional  with  the  woman  to  decline  low- 
paid  employment.  Every  dollar  added  to  the  family  income 
is  needed  to  lighten  the  burden  which  the  rest  are  carrying. 
Wherever  the  wages  of  sul-Ii  a  woman  are  less  than  the  cost 
of  living  and  the  reasonable  provision  for  maintaining  the 
worker  in  health,  the  industry  employing  her  is  in  receipt  of 
the  working  energy  of  a  human  being  at  less  than  its  cost,  and 
to  that  extent  is  parasitic.  The  balance  must  be  made  up  in 
some  way.  It  is  generally  paid  by  the  industry  employing 
the  father;  it  is  sometimes  paid  in  part  by  the  future  inef- 
ficiency of  the  worker  herself  and  by  her  children;  and  perhaps 
in  part  ultimately  by  the  State.  .  .  If  an  industry  is  per- 
manently   dependent    for    its    existence    on    underpaid    labor, 


its  value  to  the  Commonwealth  is  questionable.  (Commis- 
sion on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  Massachusetts,  Report,  Janu- 
ary, 1912,  p.  17.) 

"Physiologically  considered,  the  worst  effect  of  low  pay, 
especially  low  piece  rates  such  as  prevail  in  the  stitching 
trades,  is  their  incentive  to  a  too  great  intensity  of  work,  and 
to  a  feverish  speed  on  the  part  of  the  operators."  (Gold- 
mark,  Josephine:     "Fatigue  and  Efficiency,"  p.  56.) 

"The  earnings  of  children  seldom  permanently  increase 
the  total  income  of  the  family.  The  increase  in  the  income 
through  the  earnings  of  the  children  is  often  offset  by  the 
decrease  in  the  earnings  of  the  father."  (Williams,  John, 
Michigan  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1901,  p.  259.) 

B.    FEDERAL,    STATE,   OR    FOREIGN    LAWS    ON 
WAGES. 

No  state  in  this  country  has  yet  undertaken  to  establish  a 
legal  minimum  wage  in  private  employments.  The  courts 
have  always  ruled  that  such  laws  are  a  direct  violation  of  the 
right  of  "freedom  of  contract." 

Several  states  have  legislated  to  keep  the  rate  of  wages 
on  public  work  up  to.  the  "current  rate"  in  private  employ- 
ments. Baltimore  has  fixed  a  minimuin  rate  of  $2.00  a  day 
for  all  workmen,  laborers,  or  mechanics  employed  by  the 
city.  California  and  Nebraska  have  fixed  the  same  rate  for 
persons  employed  by  the  city,  state,  or  its  political  divisions, 
and  Nevada  has  fixed  a  minimum  rate  of  $3.00  a  day  for  all 
public  work. 

In  the  Federal  printing  office  the  wages  for  linotype  and 
monotype  operators  have  been  fixed  by  Congress  at  $.60  an 
hour;  and  all  Federal  workmen  not  on  an  annual  salary  re- 
ceive a  50  per  cent,  advance  for  Sunday  labor. 

Wisconsin  requires  all  contracts  between  employers  and 
employes  to  be  open  to  inspection  by  the  Industrial  Commis- 
sion, and  the  Commission  must  publish  annually  at  least 
250  pages  of  information  on  the  contracts. 

Massachusetts  protects  the  already  low  wages  of  textile 
workers  by  providing  that  no  hour  worker  in  manu- 
facturing or  mechanical  establishments  may  be  docked  for 
time  lost  while  waiting  in  the  shop  for  machinery  to  be  re- 
paired. A  commission  to  study  wages  has  recently  reported, 
and  a  wage  board  bill  is  now  before  the  legislature  of  that 
State. 

Ohio  is  considering  a  provision  for  Minimum  Wage 
Boards  in  the  new  constitution. 

In  contrast  with  our  failure  thus  far  to  enact  such  legisla- 
tion, minimum  wage  boards  were  authorized  in  England,  in 
1900,  to  cover  chain  making,  machine-made  lace  finishing, 
wholesale  tailoring,  and  paper  box  manufacture.  The  inves- 
tigations and  recommendations  of  the  boards  have  increased 
wages  for  some  kinds  of  work  150  per  cent.,  and  in  some 
cases  even  more. 

The  industries  in  which  the  system  may  be  applied  are 
named  by  Parliament,  but  the  Board  of  Trade  may  provi- 
sionally extend  the  application  of  the  act  to  other  industries, 
subject  to  subsequent  continuation  by  Parliament.  The  wage 
boards  are  composed  of  representatives  of  employers  and 
workers  in  equal  numbers,  and  of  other  members  appointed 

ID 


by  the  Board  of  Trade.  The  act  went  into  eftect  January  i. 
igio. 

England  this  year  enacted  a  Minimum  Wage  law  for 
all  underground  workers  in  coal  mines.  Its  main  provisions 
are:  i.  The  establishment  of  Joint  District  Boards  composed 
of  representatives  of  employers  and  employes,  to  determine 
rates  and  general  rules;  2.  Minimum  rate  of  pay,  to  be  part 
of  every  contract;  3.  Minimum  wage  payable  from  time  miners 
return  to  work;  4.  Miner  can  i;ue  owner  for  wages  of  not  less 
than  minimum  rate;  5.  Owner's  rights  safeguarded  by  rules 
for  regularity  and  efficiency  of  work;  6.  Non-compliance  with 
these  rules  deprives  miner  of  right  to  minimum  wage;  7.  Aged 
and  infirm  miners  excepted. 

Minimum  wage  boards  were  established  in  Victoria  in 
1896,  and  arc  now  regulating  wages  for  91  trades.  They  also 
exist  in  New  South  Wales.  West  Australia,  South  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  and  Tasmania.  Germany  has  this  year  provided 
for  wage  boards;  and  France,  Belgium,  Austria,  and  Switzer- 
land  have   similar  bills  under  consideration. 

Practically  all  continental  countries  have  systems  of 
industrial  courts  where  aggrieved  workers  may  appeal  for 
justice. 

C.     WAGE    STANDARDS    ALREADY     ACCEl'TED. 

"The  opportunity  should  be  given  to  all  men  to  earn  a 
liviuK  for  their  families  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  but  under 
conditions  which  permit  decent  living,  proper  housing,  wh«>lc- 
some  nourishment,  and  provisions  for  the  proverbial  'rainy 
day.'  When  this  is  not  done,  society  itself  pays  the  penalty.' 
(Charity  Organization  Society  of  BufTalo.  X.  Y.) 

"Xornially.  the  great  bulk  of  the  industrial  work  of  our 
country  should  be  done  by  the  heads  of  families,  and  wage> 
should  be  adjusted  not  to  the  co^^t  of  living  of  the  unmarried 
boarder,  but  to  the  family  life  in  the  home.  The  living  wage 
differs  from  time  to  time  and  from  place  to  place."  (Federal 
Council  of   Churches  of  Christ  in  America.) 

"The  interests  of  the  community  demand  that  all  workers 
shall  receive  fair  living  wages."  (National  Consumers" 
League.)  ,  ^         . 

"A  weekly  wage  of  $7.00  is  necessary  for  even  a  mmmuim 
standard  of  living  (for  girls  in  New  York).  This  allows  for 
no  recreation,  vacation  money,  books  or  medical  aid.  Sea- 
sonal trades  last  no  more  than  seven  months  yearly,  which 
with  earnings  of  $6-$;  weekly  would  ligure  only  $iS<>-$Jio  an- 
nually. The  above  is  not  a  decent  standard  of  livmg.  The 
minimum  wage,  therefore,  should  be  at  least  $8-$«)  a  week — 
$40O-$450  annually.  Few  girls  earn  so  much."  (New  York 
Section   of  the   Council   of  Jewish   Women.) 

"We  deplore  the  evils  of  child  labor,  the  conditions  that 
compel  women  and  girls  to  be  employed  away  from  their 
homes,  and  the  needless  work  of  men  and  women  on  the 
Lord's  Day.  .  .  .  We  sympathize  with  every  legitimate 
effort  to  obtain  a  living  wage,  reasonable  hours,  protection  of 
life  and  limb,  workingmen's  just  compensation,  decent  and 
healthful  conditions  in  the  home.  shop.  mine,  and  factory,  and 
pledge  our  support  to  all  legislative  action  instituted  t«»  this 
end."     (Catholic  I'ederation    Resolutions.) 

"Between  fifty  and  sixty  leading  merchants  in  New  \  ork 
City  have  been  brought  to  agree  to  pay  women.   18  years  old 

II 


and  upward,  who  have  had  one  year's  experience  as  clerk, 
not  less  than  $6.00  a  week.  Investigation  of  the  income  of 
working  women  and  girls  shows  that  $8.00  is  the  least  on 
which  women  in  New  York  City  can  keep  themselves  in  health 
and  efficiency.  Minimum  wage  boards  encourage  the  fullest 
publicity  of  payrolls  and  wage  books  and  assure  to  the  public 
clear  knowledge  where  now  there  is  blank  ignorance  on  the 
part  of  the  shopping  public."     (National  Consumers'  League.) 

"The  Church  holds  that  in  a  Christian  society  these  things 
should  prevail:  .  .  .  (c)  the  pay  of  every  worker  for  six 
days'  work  made  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  seven  days  of 
living."     (Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions.) 

"The  Church  must  stand  for  a  living  wage  as  a  minimum 
in  every  industry,  and  for  the  highest  wage  that  each  industry 
can  afford."  "For  the  most  equitable  division  of  the  products 
of  industry  that  can  ultimately  be  devised."  (Federal  Council 
of  Churches  of   Christ   in  America.) 

"We  take  the  position  that  a  sufficient  wage  should  be 
paid  to  require  a  man  to  labor  not  above  an  average  of  eight 
hours  out  of  twenty-four  to  earn  an  amount  that  will  meet 
the  necessities  of  decent  maintenance;  to  provide  for  the  edu- 
cation of  children;  and  the  gradual  building  of  such  a  surplus 
as  will  provide  a  home  and  support  for  a  reasonable  period, 
after  the  age  when  ability  to  work  has  ceased."  (Order  of 
Railway  Conductors  of  America.) 

"We  recommend  a  legal  minimum  wage  in  sweated 
trades."     (National  Women's  Trade  Union  League.) 

"We  demand  a  living  wage  in  every  industry."  (Methodist 
Federation  for  Social   Service.) 

Living  wage:  The  workingman  with  an  average  family 
should  live  in  a  sanitary,  comfortable  house;  provide  good 
food;  be  able  to  keep  his  children  in  school  until  16;  and  lay 
up  enough  to  maintain  himself  in  illness  or  old  age.  (Mitchell, 
John,  quoted  by  Heydrick  in  The  Chautauquan.) 

Reasons  for  establishing  Minimum  Wage  Commission: 

I.  To  promote  the  welfare  of  the  State  by  protecting 
women  workers  from  impaired  health  and  inefficiency,  due  to 
economic  distress;  2.  To  bring  employers  to  a  realization  of 
their  public  responsibilities;  3.  To  furnish  women  employes  a 
means  of  obtaining  the  best  minimum  wages  consistent  with 
the  ongoing  of  industry,  without  recourse  to  industrial  dis- 
turbances; 4.  To  prevent  the  exploitation  of  helpless  women, 
and  abolish  sweating  industries;  5.  To  diminish  the  parasitic 
character  of  some  industries  and  lessen  the  burden  now 
resting  on  other  employments;  6.  To  protect  employers  from 
the  undercutting  of  wages  by  unscrupulous  competitors; 
7.  To  stimulate  employers  to  develop  the  efficiency  of  the 
workers;  8.  To  induce  employers  to  keep  together  their  trained 
workers,  and  avoid  as  far  as  possible  seasonal  fluctuations; 
9.  To  educate  employes  to  meaning  of  the  payroll,  and  heal 
sense  of  grievance. 

(Commission  on  Minimum  Wage  Boards,  Massachusetts, 
report,  January,    1912,   p.  25.) 


12 


11.     11(.)URS. 

1.  i'.u.u  i-llniK  Uay.  The  cstabli.siiiiunt  «>i  uiu  t.iL;iii-iiL)Ur 
day  for  all  men  employed  in  continuous  industries,  and  as  a  n^.axi- 
mum  for  women  and  minors  in  all  industries. 

2.  Six-Day  \\'i:ek.  The  work  period  limited  fu  mx  (lays 
in  each  week ;  and  a  period  of  rest  of  forty  consecutive  hours  in 
each  week. 

3.  Night  Work.  Night  work  for  minors  entirely  prohib- 
ited; an  uninterrupted  period  of  at  least  eight  hours  night  rest  for 
all  women ;  and  night  work  for  men  minimized  wherever  possible. 

A.     SPECIFIC  INFORMATION  ON  HOURS. 

"The  regulation  of  working  hours  is  the  necessary 
mechanism  to  prevent  overfatigue  or  exhaustion,  forerunner 
of  countless  miseries  to  individuals  and  whole  nations." 
(Goldmark.  Josephine:    "Fatigue  and   Efticiency,"  p.  9.) 

"The  shorter  workday  and  relief  from  overstrain  are  not 
in  themselves  the  cure  for  tlie  ills  we  have  considered;  but 
they  are  the  sine  <;mij  non  without  which  no  other  cure  is  pos- 
sible or  conceivable.  Just  because  a  fatigued  person  is  a 
poisoned  person,  poisoned  by  the  accumulation  of  his  own 
waste  products,  nothing  can  fundamentally  cure  the  exhausted 
worker  which  does  not  eliminate  the  cause  of  such  accumu- 
lated poisoning.  .  .  .  After  exhaustion  has  set  in  nothing 
but  rest  and  repose  permits  the  organism  to  expel  its  poisons 
from  day  to  day."     (Ibid.,  p.  281.) 

"If  the  short  day  were  the  enemy  of  production,  as  its 
opponents  asstrt.  and  actually  led  to  a  lowered  output  in  the 
long  run,  the  progress  toward  an  8-hour  day  in  the  great 
men's  trades  would  long  since  have  broken  down.  No  trade 
could  persist  and  grow  which  was  permanently  carried  on  at 
a  loss.  .  .  .  Economic  etVicicncy  rises  and  falls  with  the 
worker's  physical  efficiency,  and  whatever  contributes  to  the 
latter  tends  to  raise  the  former!"     (Ibid.,  p.   169.) 

"Hours  are  'long.'  whether  the  day  is  eight  hours  or  ten. 
if  the  work  is  continued  so  long  that  it  causes  ill  health  or 
interferes  with  the  employes'  capacity  for  recreation.  From 
the  standpoint  of  ^ocial  welfare,  the  maximum  working  day 
must  be  limited  to  a  number  of  hours  in  which  in  most  indus- 
tries no  more  energy  is  expended  than  may  be  regained  by  a 
night's  rest.  fJccupations  involving  special  strain  must  be 
provided  for  specifically."     (Butler:     Women  and  the  Trades, 

P-  35^>) 

Women  workers  in  California  canneries  report  average 
season  in  country  14.2  weeks,  in  city  18.4  weeks.  Average 
hours,   country   O3.8.   city    578   per   week.      Over   one-half   the 

13 


workers  questioned  reported  maximum  weeks  of  72  hours  or 
over,  running  in  some  cases  up  to  98  a  week._  A  number  of 
those  reporting  extremely  long  hours  both  in  average  and 
maximum  weeks  are  labelers  and  stampers,  who  have  to  do 
with  the  product  after  it  is  canned,  hermetically  sealed,  cooked, 
and  no  longer  perishable.  Thirteen  per  cent,  of  the  cannery 
workers  among  the  women  are  under  16  years  of  age.  (U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Labor,   Bulletin  96,  p.  479-) 

"The  Maryland  law  contains  a  provision  forbidding  the 
employment  of  children  under  16  more  than  10  hours  a  day. 
As  far  as  the  canneries  are  concerned,  this  law  appears  to 
be  a  dead  letter.  Of  the  whole  group  of  children  studied 
(189)  there  were  but  five  who  had  not  had  a  maximum  day 
of  over  10  hours,  while  157  had  had  usual  days  exceeding 
this  limit."     (U.  S.   Bureau  of  Labor,   Bulletin  96,  p.  479-) 

"Under  the  pressure  of  the  rush  season  the  employes  not 
only  work  longer  hours,  but  they  increase  the  speed  of  their 
production  and  thus  their  hourly  earnings.  It  is  equally  plain 
and  highly  significant  that  over  'J^  hours  a  week,  which  in- 
volves 6  working  days  of  over  11  hours  each,  fails  to  net  the 
workers  an  average  of  $6.00  a  week.  (Mfg.  of  candy,  etc.) 
(U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  96.) 

"No  store,  factory,  schoolhouse.  playground,  or  private 
home  is  a  fit  place  for  the  systematic  occupation  of  children 
during  the  night  hoars."  (National  Child  Labor  Committee, 
"Child  Labor  and  the  Night   Messenger  Service.") 

"The  irregularity  of  work  is  much  greater  in  the  packing 
of  shrimp  (than  in  the  packing  of  oysters)  as  the  catch  is  so 
easily  delayed  by  adverse  weather  conditions.  The  workers 
do  not  begin  quite  so  early  in  the  morning  and  one  manager 
told  me  that  because  the  fluid  in  the  shrimp  affects  the  fingers 
of  the  pickers,  it  is  not  possible  for  the  best  of  them  to  work 
much  over  six  hours.  It  is  a  common  sight  to  find  the  chil- 
dren with  swollen  and  bleeding  fingers."  Oyster  shuckers 
work  from  three  or  four  in  the  morning  until  about  four  in 
the  afternoon,  and  sometimes  they  have  a  short  lunch  period. 
(Hine,  Lewis  W.:   "Child  Labor  in  the  Gulf  Coast  Canneries," 

P-  4) 

"Because  of  the  long  periods  of  idleness  when  they  can 
earn  nothing,  these  women  (home  finishers  of  men's  clothing) 
make  the  most  of  the  busy  season  when  it  comes,  and  when 
plenty  of  work  is  to  be  had  the  combined  labor  of  the  whole 
family,  all  day  and  often  at  night,  is  utilized.  They  take  as 
many  garments  as  they  can  possibly  secure,  and  then  work  un- 
limited hours  and  strain  to  the  utmost  to  complete  their 
tasks."  (U.  S.  Report  on  Conditions  of  Women  and  Child 
Wage  Earners,  Senate  Doc.  645,  Vol.  VIII.) 

"Taking  the  28  North  Carolina  mills  which  employed 
M'omen  or  children  at  night,  all  together,  the  children  working 
fey  day  in  all  these  mills  were  25.32%  of  all  the  day  employees 
there,  and  the  437  children  working  by  night  in  all  these  mills 
were  26.29%  of  all  the  night  workers."  (U.  S.  Report  on  the 
Conditions  of  Women  and  Child  Wage  Earners,  Senate  Doc. 
645.  Vol.  I.) 

There  are  35  states  in  the  Union  in  which  children  under 
16  years  of  age  may  work  more  than  8  hours  a  day.  .  .  . 
Under  the  most  exacting  conditions,  the  child  is  confined  in 
school  1,000  hour?  annually.  In  Massachusetts  the  factory  child 
is  confined  2,808  hours  a  year,  and  in  New  York,  where  the 
8-hour  day  prevails,  he  is   subjected  to  2,496  hours'   confine- 

14 


ment.  In  Alabama  a  child  of  12  years  may  legally  work  3,120 
hours  a  year,  while  children  of  14  may  be  cxploycd  78  hours 
a  week,  or  4.056  hours  a  year.  The  total  number  of  hours  of 
daylight  in  tlic  year,  exclusive  of  Sundays,  is  3,744.  so  that 
the  manufacturinj^  industries  of  Alabama  may  legally  employ 
their  14-year-old  children  312  hours  of  the  night  besides  all 
the  hours  of  daylight.  (National  t'hild  Labor  Committee, 
"Seven   Years  of  Child   Labor   Ucform.") 

"Tomato  peeling  i>  often  done  at  long  tables  where  the 
workers  stand  all  day.  Children  of  u  years  are  employed 
at  this  exhausting  work  for  far  lunger  hours  than  is  permitted 
in  factories  for  children  two  years  older."  (Goldmark, 
Pauline:     "Do  Children   Work  in   the   Canneries?") 

"It  is  not  at  all  unusual  ft>r  young  girls  and  women  to 
work  for  80  or  w  hours  a  week.  They  have  been  known  to 
work  for  iH  hours  of  the  24  in  certain  canneries  in  New  York 
State."     (Goldmark,   Pauline:     "Child   Labor  in    Canneries.") 

"Evidence  is  available  to  show  that  children,  especially 
the  foreign  born,  work  in  some  sheds  with  the  adults  ten  to 
fifteen  hours  a  day,  or  as  long  as  there  is  work  to  be  done." 
(Hall,  George  A.:  "Unrestricted  Forms  of  Child  Labor  in 
N.  Y.  State."  1 

B.     FEDERAL,  STATE,  OR  FOREIGN  LAWS 
LIMITING  HOURS. 

HOUR  LIMITATION— WOMEN.  Arizona  has  estab- 
lished the  8-hour  day  for  laundry  workers,  and  Montana 
a  9-hour  day  for  telephone  operators  in  cities  over  3.000.  The 
lo-hour  laws  of  Oregon,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Ohio,  and  the 
8-hour  law  of  Washington  have  been  sustained  by  the  courts. 
The  60-hour  week  holds  for  Georgia,  Illinois.  Louisiana.  Mary- 
land, Nebraska.  North  Dakota,  Oklahoma,  Oregon,  Pennsyl- 
vania, South  Carolina,  South  Dakota,  Tennessee.  Virginia, 
New  Jersey,  and  Kentucky.  Connecticut.  Maine,  Minnesota, 
and  New  Hampshire  have  a  58-hour  week;  Rhode  Island 
56-hour;  Wisconsin  55;  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Missouri, 
New  York,  Ohio,  and  Utah  54. 

NIGHT  WORK.  In  Europe  14  countries— Germany, 
Austria,  Belgium,  Denmark,  .Spain,  France,  Great  Britain, 
Italy,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  Portugal,  Sweden.  Switzer- 
land, and  Hungary — have  signed  an  agreement  to  abolish 
night  work  for  women.  In  America  three  states — Massachu- 
setts, Indiana,  and  Nebraska — have  laws  prohibiting  night 
work   for  women. 

HOUR  LIMITATION— MEN.  In  17  states  there  are 
general  laws  defining  a  legal  day's  work  for  men.  Twenty 
states,  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  United  States,  Hawaii,  and 
Porto  Rico  limit  the  hours  of  labor  in  public  employment  to  8 
per  day.  Regulation  in  different  industries  is  as  follows:  mines 
13  states,  smelters  8,  railroad  labor  24  and  the  United  States, 
telegraph  or  telephone  operators  handling  trains  18  and  the 
United  States,  street  car  employment  10,  cotton  and  woollen 
mills  3;  while  the  following  industries  are  regulated  in  one 
state  each:  bakeries,  brickyards,  cement  and  plaster  mills, 
drug  clerks,  jailers,  tunnel  and  caisson  workers,  letter  carriers 
(federal  law). 

The  legal  prohibition  of  night  work  for  men  is  still  con- 
sidered  impossible   in   America.     Norway,   Finland.   Italy,  and 


the  Swiss  Canton  of  Tessin  have  recognized  that  in  such  em- 
ployments as  bakeries,  night  work  is  injurious,  even  for  men, 
and  have  prohibited  it  entirely. 

In  Germany,  Svi^itzerland,  Norway,  Austria,  and  Russia, 
the  Government  has  power  to  fix  the  length  of  the  working 
day  for  any  industries  where  the  health  of  the  workers  might 
be  injured  by  long  hours.  There  are  on  the  statute  books  of 
the  United  States,  the  states,  territories,  and  dependencies, 
65  distinct  laws  designed  to  limit  daily  hours  of  labor  of  adult 
males  in  private  employment.  Eighteen  decisions  have  been 
given  by  courts  of  last  resort  on  laws  concerning  bakeries, 
mines,  and  smelters.  Of  ther.e,  11  have  upheld  the  laws  as 
within  state  police  power;  5  have  held  adversely  on  account  of 
federal  regulation,  though  affirming  or  implying  their  validity 
in  the  absence  of  federal  statutes;  2  have  been  absolutely  ad- 
verse to  legislation  on  constitutional  grounds,  of  which  i  is 
generally  regarded  as  based  on  unsound  reasoning. 

Convict  Labor:  The  following  states  have  a  fixed  8-hour 
day  for  convict  labor:  Colorado,  Illinois,  Missouri,  New  Jer- 
sey, Nevada,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Utah,  Washington. 
The  following  have  an  8-hour  maximum  day:  Delaware,  In- 
diana, Iowa.  The  following  have  a  fixed  lo-hour  day:  Kan- 
sas, Oregon,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Wisconsin.  The 
following  have  a  lo-hour  maximum  day:  Florida,  Louisiana, 
Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  Texas.  Florida,  Idaho,  and  Louisi- 
ana forbid  night  work  for  convicts. 

HOUR  LIMITATION— CHILDREN.  The  work  of  chil- 
dren under  16  years  of  age  is  prohibited  at  night  and  limited 
to  an  8-hour  day  in  the  following  states:  Arizona,  California, 
Colorado,  Illinois,  Kansas,  Missouri,  Mississippi,  Nebraska, 
New  York  (9  hours  in  mercantile  establishments).  North  Da- 
kota, Ohio,  Oklahoma,  Wisconsin.  In  addition  to  these, 
night  work  for  children  under  16  is  prohibited  in  Indiana, 
Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  New  Hampshire,  South  Caro- 
lina, Vermont.  The  following  states  forbid  the  employment 
of  night  messengers  under  21:  Arizona,  Massachusetts,  New 
Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  Utah,  Wisconsin,  New  York.  The 
same  occupation  is  forbidden  boys  under  18  in  California, 
Michigan,  New  Hampshire,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Tennessee. 

CONTINUOUS  INDUSTRIES— ALL  WORKERS.  In 
the  United  States,  two  laws  embodying  the  principle  of  three 
shifts  for  continuous  industries  have  been  passed:  in  Montana 
there  is  an  8-hour  law  for  hoisting  engineers  in  mines  oper- 
ated more  than  16  hours  a  day;  and  the  United  States  has 
passed  a  federal  law  regulating  hours  of  labor  in  interstate 
commerce  providing  a  13-hour  day  for  telegraphers  in  offices 
open  only  in  the  day  time,  and  a  g-hour  day  in  offices  open 
day  and  night.  A  conference  of  the  International  Associa- 
tion for  Labor  Legislation  is  now  meeting  in  London,  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  continuous  industries,  with  a  view  to 
securing  a  universal  8-hour  shift  for  all  workers  in  continu- 
ous processes,  with  the  possible  abolition  of  night  work. 

ONE  DAY  REST  IN  SEVEN— ALL  WORKERS.  Cali- 
fornia has  adopted  the  principle  of  one  day  rest  in  seven  for 
workers  in  the  great  industrial  employments  calling  for  seven- 
day  labor.  Many  other  states  have  recognized  the  principle 
of  Sabbath  observance.  European  countries  almost  univer- 
sally require  a  continuous  rest  period  of  at  least  24  hours  at 
some   time  each  week. 

16 


C.     STANDARDS   OF    HOURS   ALREADY   ACCEPTED. 

"A  twelve-hour  day  and  a  seven-day  week  are  alike  a  dis- 
grace to  civilization.  .  .  .  There  should  be  laws  requiring 
three  shifts  in  all  industries  operating  twenty-four  hours  a 
day,  and  there  should  be  laws  requiring  one  day  of  rest  in 
seven  for  all  women  in  seven-day  industries."  (Federal  Coun- 
cil of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  .Xnicrica.  Report  on  South 
Bethlehem,   Pa.,  situation.) 

"Eight-Hour  Day  to  be  recognized,  and  hours  of  labor 
on  all  public  works  to  be  reduced  as  rajiidly  as  possible  to 
eight  per  day.  Rest  and  holidays  to  be  provided — at  least 
36  consecutive  hours  of  rest  each  week;  all  legal  holidays, 
and  half  holidays  on  Saturdays  each  week  to  be  allowed. 
These  provisions  also  to  be  reijuircd  of  all  contractors  doing 
work  for  the   city."      (Socialist    Party.) 

"For  children  14-16,  6-hour  day,  two-hour  recess,  no  night 
work;  16-18,  8-hour  day.  Under  18  no  night  work,  no  em- 
ployment in  dangerous  trades.  No  night  work  for  women." 
(Association   of  American   Physicians.) 

"We  recommend  the  8-hour  day,  and  the  elimination  of 
night  work."     (National  Women's  Trade   Union    League.) 

"One  complete  hour  of  rest;  no  overtime  work;  ma.ximum 
eight  hours  for  factory  work."  (X.  Y.  Section  of  the  Coun- 
cil   of  Jewish    Women.) 

"Provide  that  one  day's  rest  in  seven  be  granted,  no  mat- 
ter how  continuous  the  industry,  and  co-operate  in  establish- 
ing through  legislation  the  ma.ximum  ten-hour  working  day 
for  women."  (American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 
Immediate  Program,  1912.) 

"There  are  no  set  standards  governing  the  employment 
of  members  of  our  Organization  relative  to  the  questions  you 
have  submitted,  except  the  limitation  of  the  working-day 
period  which  must  not  exceed  nine  hours  in  the  24.  and  which 
at  this  time  does  not  exceed  8  hours  in  the  24  by  at  least 
80%  of  our  membership,  and  the  balance  will,  it  is  expected, 
in  the  near  future  have  adopted  the  8-hour  working  day." 
(Bricklayers,  Masons  and  Plasterers'  International  Union  of 
America.) 

The  only  just  principle  for  regulation  of  hours  is  to 
limit  the  number  to  a  point  below  which  any  specific  occupa- 
tion will  have  no  injurious  effect  upon  the  health  of  the 
workers.  (Labor  Bureau  Oflicials  &  Factory  Inspectors,  Re- 
port,  ion.  p.  86.) 

"The  Church  must  stand  for  the  gradual  and  reasonable 
reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  to  the  lowest  practical  point, 
and  for  that  degree  of  leisure  for  all  which  is  a  condition  of 
the  highest  human  life."  .  .  .  "The  Church  must  stand  for 
release  from  employment  one  d.-iy  in  seven."  (Federal  Council 
of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  .America.) 

"Reduction  (of  hours)  to  the  lowest  practical  point. 
One  day  rest  in  seven."  (Methodist  Federation  for  Social 
Service.)  ,       ,         , 

"We  hold  that  the  Church  ought  to  declare  for  the  release 
of  every  worker  from  work  one  day  in  seven.  For  such  order- 
ing of  the  hours  ami  rc<iuirements  of  labor  as  to  make  them 
compatible  with  healthy  physical,  mental,  and  moral  life." 
(Board  of  Home;  Missions.  Presbyterian  (  hurch.) 

"On  the  limitation  of  houf  for  women  and  children  we 
maintain    the    iiosition    taken    by    those    organizations    which 

17 


come  in  contact  with  labor  of  that  class.  It  should  not  be 
permitted  under  conditions  that  create  an  economic  peril, 
either  to  the  working  class  who  are  displaced  by  them  or  to 
the  propagation  of  the  race."  (Order  of  Railway  Conductors 
of  America.) 

"An  i8  or  19-year-old  boy  just  upon  the  threshold  of 
manhood  is  more  dangerously  exposed  to  certain  forms  of 
social  vice  than  would  be  the  boy  of  12  or  13  years.  Officers 
and  members  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  have 
therefore  reached  the  conclusion  after  careful  and  mature 
deliberation  that  this  service  (night  messenger)  should  be 
withdrawn  from  any  person  under  21  years  of  age  during  the 
late  night  hours."  (National  Child  Labor  Committee,  "Child 
Labor  and  the  Night  Messenger  Service.") 

"I  emphasize  the  fact  that  there  should  be  at  least  24 
continuous  hours  interval  during  each  week  in  the  produc- 
tion of  ingots."  (Elbridge  H.  Gary,  President  U.  S.  Steel 
Corporation,  March  18,  1910,  letter  to  Presidents  of  all  Con- 
stituent  Companies.) 

Obviously,  a  day  long  enough  for  adult  men  and  women 
is  not  too  short  for  undeveloped  children.  We  therefore  seek 
to  establish  as  rapidly  as  possible  a  maximum  of  eight  hours 
in  the  daily  labor  of  children  in  manufacturing  and  mercantile 
pursuits.  .  .  .  During  youth  and  adolescence  the  human  life 
should  be  protected  through  regular  hours  of  rest,  recreation, 
and  feeding,  and  we  therefore  contend  that  children  under  16 
years  of  age  should  be  prohibited  from  such  occupations  as 
demand  their  service  at  night.  (National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee,  "Seven    Years    of    Child    Labor    Reform.") 

"We  are  of  the  opinion  that  a  12-hour  day  of  labor  fol- 
lowed continuously  by  any  group  of  men  for  any  considerable 
number  of  years  means  a  decreasing  of  the  efficiency  and  les- 
sening of  the  vigor  and  virility  of  such  men."  (Committee 
of  Stockholders,  U.  S.  Steel   Corporation.) 


i3 


III.     SAFETY  AND  HEALTH. 

1.  Investigation.  An  investigation  by  llie  Federal  Govern- 
ment of  all  industries,  on  the  plan  pursued  in  the  present  investi- 
gation of  niining^,  with  a  view  to  establishing  standards  of  sanitation 
and  safety  and  a  basis  for  compensation  for  injury.  This  should 
include  a  scientific  study  and  report  upon  fire-escapes,  safety-appli- 
ances, sanitary  conditions,  and  the  effects  of  ventilation,  dust,  poi- 
sons, heat,  cold,  compressed  air,  steam,  t^larc,  darkness,  speed,  and 
noise. 

2.  PROHIDITION  OF  PoisoNS.  Prohibition  of  manufacture  or 
sale  of  poisonous  articles  dangerous  to  life  of  worker,  whenever 
harmless  substitutes  are  possible,  on  the  principle  already  estab- 
lished by  Congress  in  relation  to  poisonous  phosphorus  matches. 

3.  Regul.\tion  ACCORDING  TO  HAZARD.  In  trades  and  occupa- 
tions offering  a  menace  to  life,  limb,  or  health,  the  employment  of 
women  and  minors  regulated  according  to  the  degree  of  hazard. 
No  minor  under  18  employed  in  any  dangerous  occupation,  or  in 
occupations  which  involve  danger  to  fellow  workmen  or  require 
use  of  explosives,  poisonous  gases,  or  other  injurious  ingredients. 
Unskilled  craftsmen  who  do  not  read  and  understand  the  English 
language  forbidden  to  handle  dangerous  machinery  or  processes 
known  to  be  extra  hazardous. 

4.  Standardized  Inspection,  Inspection  of  mines  and  work 
places  standardized  either  by  inter.state  agreement  or  by  establish- 
ment of  a  Government  standard.  All  deaths,  injuries,  and  diseases 
due  to  industrial  operations  to  be  reported  to  public  authorities  as 
required  in  accident  laws  of  Minnesota,  and  with  respect  to  .some 
trade  diseases  in  New  York. 

A.     SPECIFIC     INF0RM.\T10N      <  >V      S\II-TV       WD 
HEALTH. 

"In  I90<>  few  competent  .luthoritics  ilarcil  lt>  as>crl  lliat 
more  than  50%  of  tlic  industrial  accidents  were  preventable 
To-day  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  from  ;.>%  to  Qo'I'  are 
preventable."  (Lescohier:  .Accident  Bulletin  No.  ,\.  Mmnc- 
sota.) 

19 


On  the  railroads  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  decade, 
each  year  one  trainman  in  every  137  was  killed,  and  one  in 
every  11  injured;  one  employee  in  every  399  met  his  death  in 
service,  and  one  in  every  26  was  wounded.  (Report  of  In- 
dustrial  Commission,  Vol.  313,  p.  913.) 

"During  the  past  10  years  we  have  had  two  wars — the 
Spanish  and  the  Philippine — and  the  aggregate  loss  of  killed 
and  wounded  in  the  two  was  less  than  6,000  men;  while 
the  number  killed  and  wounded  in  our  industrial  army  during 
the  same  period  .  .  .  was  more  than  5,000,000;  that  is,  for 
every  man  killed  or  wounded  in  war,  'victories  of  peace' 
have  cost  us  S75  men  killed  and  wounded."  (International 
Assn.  of  Officials  of  Bureaus  of  Labor,  Factory  Inspection,  & 
Industrial  Commissioners,  Proceedings,  27th  Annual  Conven- 
tion, Sept.,   191 1,  p.  20.) 

"Take  the  last  estimate  of  our  industrial  expense,  the 
total  number  of  casualties  sufifered  by  our  industrial  army  is 
sufficient  to  carry  on  perpetually  two  such  wars  at  the  same 
time  as  our  Civil  War  and  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  (Tol- 
man.   Ibid.,  p.  21.) 

"Statistics  show  us  that  more  than  15,000  men  are  annu- 
ally killed  in  American  work  accidents,  and  some  500,000  in- 
jured— every  male  in  a  city  of  75,000  slain  every  year,  and 
every  male  in  a  State  like  Minnesota  wounded  or  crippled." 
(Paper  by  Don  D.  Lescohier,  of  Minn.,   Ibid.,  p.  88.) 

"Prof.  Irving  Fisher  estimates  .  .  .  that  of  the  annual 
loss  of  $3,000,000,000  due  to  sickness,  accident  and  death,  one- 
half,  or  $1,500,000,000,  is  preventable."     (Ibid.,  p.  20.) 

"The  provisions  of  the  factory  law  are  general.  Because 
they  are  applicable  to  all  industries  alike,  of  necessity  they 
fail  to  cope  with  the  trade  danger,  which  is  not  general,  but 
characteristic  of  a  particular  occupation."  (Butler:  "Women 
and  the  Trades,"  p.  364.) 

"The  speed  of  machinery  .  .  .  impels  the  worker  to  in- 
crease the  quantity  of  her  output.  .  .  .  The  nervous  strain 
inevitable  under  these  conditions  has  no  inconsiderable  share 
in  causing  positive  breakdown."  (Butler:  "Women  and  the 
Trades,"_  p.  366.) 

"Noise  not  only  distracts  attention,  but  necessitates  a 
greater  exertion  of  intensity  or  conscious  application,  thereby 
hastening  the  onset  of  fatigue  of  the  attention."  (Goldmark, 
Josephine:     "Fatigue   and   Efficiency,"   p.   71.) 

"When  we  find  the  number  and  ratio  of  accidents  in- 
creasing up  to  a  certain  point  with  each  successive  hour  of 
work  during  the  morning,  falling  toward  zero  at  the  noon 
hour  and  again  rising  to  a  maximum  in  the  afternoon,  it  is 
reasonable  to  ascribe  the  increase  in  large  part  to  the  effects 
of  fatigue."     (Ibid.,  p.  71.) 

"The  chief  preventable  conditions  from  which  work  acci- 
dents result  are:  (i)  lack  of  provision  for  safety  in  construc- 
tion; (2)  Ipng  hours  of  work;  (3)  too  great  speed  maintained 
in_  many  lines  of  work;  (4)  inadequate  plant  inspection;  (5) 
failure  to  remedy  known  defects;  (6)  inadequate  warning  and 
signal  systems;  (7)  inadequate  instruction  and  direction  of 
ignorant  workers."  (Eastman,  Crystal:  "Work  Accidents  and 
the  Law,"  p.  107.) 

"If  direct  protective  legislation  is  to  be  effective,  within 
the  limited  field  in  which  safety  rules  are  practicable,  inspec- 
tors must  possess  a  technical  mastery  of  the  industry  they 
deal  with,  inspection  must  be  thorough  and  frequent,  and  the 

20 


penalty  for  failure  to  comply  with  orders  must  be  swift  and 
sure."     (Ibid.,  p.  107.) 

"Excessive  toil  under  the  most  healthful  conditions  be- 
tween the  ages  of  12  and  lO  or  any  toil  during  this  period 
which  precludes  an  equivalent  development  of  the  intellect, 
results  in  an  arrest  of  the  normal  yrowth  of  the  brain,  a 
replacement  of  functional  with  connective  tissue  or  neuroglia. 
It  reduces  permanently  the  mental  capacity  of  the  individual, 
reflecting  itself  subsequently  by  the  loss  of  ambition,  of  will 
power,  the  power  of  concentration,  of  extended  mental  effort." 
(Harmon,  William  E.:  "Handicaps  in  Later  Years  from  Child 
Labor.") 

"You  can  travel  among  the  plantations  of  \'irginia.  North 
and  South  Carolina,  and  tind  hundreds  of  families  of  the  best 
type  and  heredity,  where  poverty  has  been  so  extreme  as  to 
require  the  constant  toil  of  the  children;  and  wherever  you 
find  it,  almost  invariably  the  marks  of  mental  arrest  are  dis- 
tinctly evident."      (Ibid.) 

"We  have  but  to  look  about  us  to  trace  the  history  of 
families  in  our  own  community ;  in  fact,  to  study  ourselves, 
in  many  instances,  to  find  wherein  the  excessive  work  of  our 
fathers  and  forefathers  has  handicapped  us  in  the  exercise  of 
the  finer  intellectual  and  arti.^tic  faculties  which  we  feel  sure 
are  potentially  resident  within  us."  "All  excessive  labor 
among  children,  or  even  all  labor  which  does  not  give  full 
opportunity  for  simultaneous  development,  is  criminally 
wrong."     (Ibid.) 

"Premature  employment  in  standing  positions  tends  to 
produce  postural  deformities  of  the  feet;  sitting  employment 
in  young  children  tends  to  cause  distortions  of  the  spine 
and  chest.  .  .  .  Children  come  to  their  employment  with  vari- 
ous abnormal  conditions  already  existing.  .  .  .  These  things, 
all  of  them,  lead  up  to  the  postural  deformities,  which  develop 
later  during  the  course  of  their  employment.  ...  A  spine 
which  has  started  to  become  crooked  .  .  .  and  a  chest  which 
has  not  developed  to  the  normal  extent  may  be  likened  to  a 
nail  slightly  bent.  It  may  seem  strong  enough  when  you 
look  at  it  .  .  .  but  put  it  under  the  hammer  and  instead  of 
going  into  the  wood  it  bends  more.  This  is  precisely  what 
happens  to  these  unfortunate  children  when  they  are  placed 
in  the  unfavorable  environment  of  factories  and  workshops, 
and  at  a  time  when  their  growth  and  development  arc  not  yet 
complete."  (Freiberg,  Albert  II.:  "Some  Effects  of  Improper 
Posture  in   I'actory  Labor.") 

"The  hygienic  conditions  of  even  a  poor  school  are 
much  better,  it  seems  to  me,  than  the  hygienic  conditions  in 
the  best  of  workshops,  so  long  as  a  child  must  spend  nine 
or  ten  hours  a  day,  or  even  eight  hours  a  day,  at  work  with 
only  the  lunch  hour  as  an  opportunity  for  diversion  and  relax- 
ation. .  .  .  Where  are  the  graduates  of  the  factories?  I  have 
not  come  across  them  in  literature,  science,  art,  or  politics." 
(Ibid.) 

"In  England,  and  to  a  certain  extent  in  Germany,  the 
work  people  .ire  of  the  same  nationality  as  their  employers 
and  they  usually  form  a  stable  part  of  the  community.  Here, 
in  the  poisonous  and  dusty  trades,  at  least,  they  are  largely 
foreigners  and  form  a  floating  migratory  population.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  believe  that  in  any  country  the  distance  between 
peasant  and  noble  is  greater  than  is  that  between  this  army 
of  homeless  Greeks  and  Slavs  housed  in  the  company  shacks 

21 


of  the  smelting  works,  and  the  American  citizen  householder 
of  the  little  town  barely  a  mile  away."  (Hamilton,  Alice, 
M.  D.:  Occupational  Diseases,  Proceedings  of  38th  Annual 
Meeting,  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction, 
1911.) 

"As  about  20%  of  all  the  men  are  unduly  susceptible  to 
lead  and  become  poisoned  in  a  very  short  time,  from  a  week 
to  a  couple  of  months  usually,  a  factory  which  is  continually 
taking  in  new  recruits  will  also  continually  send  out  poi- 
soned men,  while  a  factory  which  strives  to  keep  its  men,  can 
weed  out  the  over-susceptible  and  settle  down  to  a  steady 
and   fairly  resistent  force."     (Ibid.) 

"The  (Illinois  Steel)  Company's  statistics  show  that  seri- 
ous accidents  have  been  reduced  since  the  energetic  safety 
campaign  has  been  instituted  by  from  50%  to  662-3%,  varying 
with  the  types  of  accidents."  (Young,  Robert,  Minn.  Acci- 
dent  Bulletin  No.  4.) 

"It  is  of  importance  to  recognize  that  the  whole  plant 
in  which  an  industry  is  lodged  is  a  force  for  or  against  health. 
Planning  a  building  with  reference  to  the  needs  of  a  particu- 
lar industry  is,  if  possible,  more  important  than  safegiiarding 
the  individual  in  the  interest  of  health."  (Butler:  "Women 
and  the  Trades,"  p.  361.) 

The  factories  in  which  very  much  complaint  was  made 
with  regard  to  unsteadiness  and  improper  conduct  of  girls 
are  precisely  those  where  the  hours  of  work  were  the  longest, 
sanitary  conditions  and  wages  unsatisfactory.  (Commission 
to  Investigate  Conditions  of  Working  Women  in  Kentucky, 
Report   Dec,   1911.) 

Reports  from  the  few  states  which  have  taken  the  matter 
of  child  exposure  in  industry  seriously  enough  to  report  upon 
it,  indicate  that  children  16  years  of  age  and  under  are  in- 
jured or  killed  at  a  ratio  startlingly  higher  than  are  adults 
in  the  same  industries.  (National  Child  Labor  Committee: 
"Seven  Years  of  Child  Labor  Reform.") 

"Upon  a  conservative  estimate  the  total  mortality  from 
accidents  in  the  United  States  among  adult  male  wage  earners 
is  between  30,000  and  35,000,  of  which  it  should  be  by  no 
means  impossible  to  save  at  least  one-third  and  perhaps  one- 
half.  .  .  .  There  were  approximately  not  much  less  than 
two  million  non-fatal  accidents."  (U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor, 
Bulletin  78,  p.  458.) 

B.  FEDERAL,  STATE  AND  FOREIGN  LAWS  ON 
SAFETY  AND  HEALTH, 

About  30  states  have  laws  intended  to  protect  workers 
from  dusts,  unsanitary  conditions,  bad  lighting,  and  impure 
or  poisonous  air.  The  majority  of  these  laws  are  too  poorly 
worded  to  be  effective  and  too  carelessly  enforced  to  afford 
adequate   protection. 

In  Illinois  the  health  and  safety  of  employes"  receive 
special  attention.  Employers  engaged  in  processes  involving 
use  of  certain  p>oisonous  substances  such  as  lead  and  paris 
green,  manufacture  of  brass  or  smelting  of  lead,  must  pro- 
vide proper  working  clothes  for  employes,  respirators,  dress- 
ing rooms,  hot  and  cold  water,  and  eating  rooms  separate 
from  the  dangerous  processes;  and  every  precaution  must  be 

22 


taken  to  prevent  poisonous  dusts  and  fumes  from  polluting 
the  air.  More  important  still,  employes  in  dangerous  proc- 
esses must  be  given  a  physical  examination  once  a  month  by 
a  physician  provided  by  employer.  (No  other  state  has  legis- 
lation of  equal  importance  to  the  workers  in  similar  indus- 
tries.) 

Massachusetts  empowers  her  state  Board  of  Health  to 
rectify  industrial  conditions  causing  eye  injuries  to  workers 
and  to  remove  children  from  employment  in  dangerous  proc- 
esses. 

Children  are  excluded  entirely  from  employment  in  a 
specified  list  of  dangerous  occupations  in  Connecticut,  Illi- 
nois, Kentucky,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  New  York,  Ohio,  Okla- 
homa, Pennsylvania,  and  Wisconsin.  Women  have  been  ex- 
cluded only  from  mines  and  saloons  in  certain  states  and  in 
other  states  are  prohibited  from  cleaning  machinery  while  in 
motion. 

On  this  point  we  are  far  behind  foreign  countries.  In 
France  females  are  forbidden  to  enter  a  place  where  any  one 
of  4]6  processes  is  carried  on,  because  of  the  danger  from  poi- 
soning or  disease  due  to  high  temperature  or  the  presence 
of  injurious  dusts  or  fumes.  Another  list  of  nearly  one  hun- 
dred occupations  is  forbidden  to  women  and  children,  except 
under  special  protective  conditions.  In  many  countries  women 
and  children  are  forbidden  to  work  in  processes  involving  the 
use  of  white  lead  and  other  dangerous  materials. 

The  legal  abolition  of  a  poisonous  substance  in  manufac- 
turing has  occurred  in  this  country  for  the  first  time  this  year 
when  Congress  passed  a  law  which  will  prohibit  the  use  of 
poisonous  phosphorus  in  the  manufacture  of  matches.  Ger- 
many, Denmark,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  Switzerland, 
France,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Spain,  Austria,  Hungary,  and 
Sweden  had  taken  similar  action  several  years  ago. 

France  has  entirely  forbidden  the  use  of  white  lead  in  any 
house-painting  process  either  on  outside  or  inside  of  build- 
ings. Belgium  prohibits  the  use  of  white  lead  in  dry  form, 
and  forbids  scraping  off  of  lead  paint  by  a  dry  process.  The 
sale  of  white  lead  in  the  form  of  powder  or  cakes  to  anyone 
except  specially  authorized  persons  is  also  forbidden. 

Eight  American  states — California,  Connecticut.  Illinois. 
Maryland,  Michigan.  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and  Wisconsin — 
require  physicians  to  report  all  cases  of  sickness  resulting 
from  work  in  several  most  common  industrial  poisons,  such 
as  lead,  mercury,  and  arsenic. 

Twenty-two  states  have  laws  for  protection  against  acci- 
dents, but  the  constant  stream  of  injured  and  killed  in  indus- 
trial life  indicates  that  in  none  of  these  states  is  any  standard 
established  which  will  afford  adequate  protection  to  workers. 

For  the  protection  of  employes  in  building  construction, 
good  laws  exist  in  Nebraska,  Oregon,  and  Indiana.  In  the  last 
two  states  employers  are  required  to  provide  protective  meas- 
ures which  are  "limited  only  by  the  necessity  for  preserving 
the  efficiency  of  the  structure  .  .  .  and  without  regard  to  the 
additional  cost  of  suitable  material  or  safety  appliances  and 
devices." 

Thirty-two  states  have  regulations  for  protection  of  mine 
employees.  These  laws  relate  to  proper  ventilation  for  good 
air  and  for  dust  removal.  Installation  and  maintenance  of 
electrical  wiring,  telephones,  safety  lamps,  care  of  explosives, 
and   ignitable    material,   escapement   shafts,   and    construction 

23 


of  cages  and  hoisting  apparatus.  Illinois  has  established  mine 
rescue  stations  where  men  are  trained  in  methods  of  accident 
prevention  and  of  rescue  work.  Illinois  also  has  a  commission 
working  on  the  subject  in  connection  with  the  Federal  Bureau 
of  Mines  and  the  state  university.  However,  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  terrible  mine  disasters  indicates  that  no  ade- 
quate standards  have  yet  been  reached. 

Legal  protection  from  factory  fires  scarcely  exists  in  this 
country.  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Colorado,  and  New 
Hampshire  have  raised  their  standards  of  safety;  Pennsyl- 
vania provides  for  fire  drills  where  women  and  girls  are  em- 
ployed; and  New  Jersey  last  year  enacted  the  most  detailed 
law  on  the  subject  found  in  this  country. 

In  Germany,  England,  and  France,  workers  in  poisonous 
trades  are  required  to  wash  hands  and  faces  before  eating  or 
leaving  factory.  No  food,  drink,  or  tobacco  allowed  in  work- 
rooms. Regular  warm  baths  required  in  dusty  trades.  Plants 
must  be  well  cleaned,  lighted,  and  ventilated.  Germany  and 
England  require  certain  trades  to  keep  health  record  of  em- 
ployes. In  all  three  countries  a  medical  certificate  of  fitness 
is  required  from  every  applicant  for  work;  physical  examina- 
tions are  frequent,  and  "leaded"  men  are  required  to  be  re- 
moved from  contact  v/ith  the  poison.  Removal  of  lead  paint 
by  dry  process  prohibited.  Belgium  prohibits  use  or  sale  of 
white  lead  paint  in  any  but  paste  or  liquid  form;  and  France 
prohibits  use  of  white  lead  paint  in  any  form  after  July  20, 
1914. 

LAWS  CONCERNING  CHILDREN.  Children  under  16 
are  forbidden  employment  in  the  list  of  about  40  occupa- 
tions in 

Arizona  Illinois  New  York        Tennessee 

Colorado  Indiana  Ohio  Vermont 

Connecticut  Missouri  Oklahoma         Wisconsin 

Minnesota  Montana  Pennsylvania 

In  Texas  no  boy  under  17  may  be  employed  in  or  about 
rriines  or  quarries. 

In  Massachusetts,  the  State  Board  of  Health  may  from 
time  to  time  after  hearing  duly  had,  determine  whether  or 
not  any  particular  trade,  process  of  manufacture  or  occupa- 
tion, in  which  the  employment  of  children  under  18  years  of 
age  is  not  already  forbidden  by  law,  or  any  particular  method 
of  carrying  on  such  trade,  process  of  manufacture,  or  occu- 
pation, is  sufficiently  dangerous  to  the  lives  or  limbs  or  injuri- 
ous to  the  health  or  morals  of  children  under  18  years  of  age 
to  justify  their  exclusion  therefrom.  No  child  under  18  years 
of  age  shall  be  employed,  permitted,  or  suffered  to  work  in 
any  occupation  thus  determined  to  be  dangerous  or  injurious 
to  such  children.  There  shall  be  a  right  of  appeal  to  the 
Superior  Court  from  any  such  determination. 

Michigan,  Minnesota,  New  York,  Ohio,  Oklahoma  pro- 
hibit employment  of  women  in  any  occupation  requiring  con- 
stant standing. 

Twenty-three  states  require  provision  of  seats  for  all 
female  employes,  and  Florida  makes  same  provision  apply  to 
all  employes. 

24 


C      STANDARDS     OF     SAFETY     AND     HEALTH     AL- 
READY  ACCEPTED 

'■\\  I-  litiuaiul  employers'  liability;  ii»ilu>iri;ii  ui>urancc 
.  .  .  sanitation  of  workshops  (regulation  as  to  air,  tempera- 
ture, moisture,  etc.)."    (As^ociation   of  American    lMiysician>.) 

"We  recommend  protected  machinery,  sanitary  work- 
shops, separate  toilet  roonis,  scats  for  women  and  permission 
for  their  use  when  the  work  allows."  .  .  .  "To  provide  ade- 
quate tire  protection."  (National  Women's  Trade  Union 
League.) 

"Extend  the  uniform  reporting  of  occupational  diseases 
to  additional  states."  (American 'Association  for  Labor  Leg- 
islation, Immediate  program,  1912.) 

"\Ve  advocate  the  establishment  by  congressional  enact- 
ment of  a  permanent  commission  of,  say  five  members,  anal- 
ogous in  character  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
this  commission  to  have  complete  power  to  prescribe  the  con- 
ditions under  which  coal  entering  into  interstate  commerce 
shall  be  mined,  just  as  the  I'edcral  Government  at  present 
passes  upon  the  character  and  conditions  under  which  meat 
produce  enters  into  interstate  commerce."  (  Haynes,  John  K., 
M.   D.,  Commissioner  of   Mining  Accidents  in  California.) 

The  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation  makes 
the  following  recommendations  for  regulation  of  lead  indus- 
tries in  N.  V.  State:  (i)  Require  trades  to  be  licensed;  (2) 
require  monthly  physical  examination  of  workers  under  super- 
vision of  State  Medical  Inspector  of  Factories;  (3)  require 
removal  of  "leaded"  men  from  industry,  or  at  least  from 
contact  with  lead;  (4)  require  State  Medical  Inspector,  with 
adequate  staff,  to  supervise  and  inspect  conditions;  staff  to 
include  chemist  for  testing  air.  etc.;  (5)  require  Medical 
Inspector  to  keep  health  records  of  workmen;  (6)  every  work- 
room to  be  properly  ventilated,  cleaned,  and  lighted;  all  lead 
dust  to  be  removed  by  sufficiently  powerful  exhaust;  (7)  wash- 
ing facilities  with  hot  water  and  baths,  and  separate  lunch 
room  to  be  provided  for  all  lead  workers;  (8)  no  edibles  or 
tobacco  to  be  taken  into  workrooms;  (q)  workmen  to  be 
provided  with  protective  devices  according  to  rules  of  Medical 
Inspector;  (10)  workmen  required  to  wash  in  hot  water 
before  meals  and  Weaving  factory;  and  to  take  hot  bath  once 
a  week — all  on  company  time;  (11)  employer  to  furnish  free 
medical  advice  on  premises,  with  drugs  and  treatment  in  case 
of  poisoning;  (12)  workmen  to  be  instructed  in  dangers  and 
prevention  of  lead  poisoning,  and  instructions  to  be  posted; 
(13)  in  house  painting,  no  paint  to  be  removed  by  dry  process. 

The  International  Association  for  Labor  Legislation  has 
laid  down  certain  principles  upon  which  the  work  of  regulat- 
ing and  eliminating  industrial  poisons  should  be  based.  Those 
which  apply  to  this  country  are  briefly  as  follows:  (l)  Phy- 
sicians and  hospitals  should  be  compelled  to  make  returns 
concerning  cases  of  industrial  disease;  (2)  employers  should 
be  required  to  report  the  manufacture  or  use  of  industrial 
poisons;  (3)  special  inspection  of  those  industries  which  man- 
ufacture or  employ  industrial  poisons  should  be  made  by 
official  physicians  especially  instructed  in  industrial  hygiene; 
(4)  the  hours  of  labor  of  workers  emplf>yed  in  poisonous  in- 
dustries should  be  shortened  according  to  the  degree  of  dan- 
ger; (5)  the  study  and  knowledge  of  industrial  pois<ms  should 
be  especially  demanded  in  the  instruction  in  medical  colleges. 

as 


and  young  physicians  should  in  special  courses  pay  attention 
to  the  chief  prophylactic  measures  which  are  necessary  for  the 
systematic  protection  of  the  health  of  laborers.  (Bulletin  of 
Bureau  of  Labor  No.  86,  Jan.,   iQio,  p.   148.) 

A  comprehensive  national  inquiry  into  the  whole  subject 
of  occupational  diseases  is  urgently  called  for.  .  .  .  The  in- 
quiry should  determine  the  true  mortality  rate  in  particular 
industries  for  which  the  facts  can  be  secured  by  special 
research,  and  also  the  sickness  rate  in  particular  employments, 
by  utilizing  as  far  as  practicable  the  experience  data  of  work- 
men's sickness  insurance  funds.  (American  Association  for 
Labor  Legislation,  Pub.   12,  p.  14.) 

"Sanitary  conditions  to  be  maintained  in  all  places  of 
employment — proper  light,  heat,  ventilation,  toilet  facilities, 
safety  appliances,  etc.  Health  department  to  co-operate  in 
these  matters;  extra  factory  inspectors  to  be  appointed  for 
this   purpose  where   necessary."      (Socialist  Party.) 

"For  such  regulation  of  the  conditions  of  the  industrial 
occupation  of  women  as  shall  safeguard  the  physical  and 
moral  health  of  themselves,  the  community,  and  future  gen- 
erations."    (Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions.) 

"The  Church  must  stand  for  the  protection  of  the  worker 
from  dangerous  machinery,  occupational  disease,  injuries,  and 
mortality."  (Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America.) 


26 


IV.     HOUSING. 

1.  liiK  Right  to  a  Homk.  Social  welfare  deinamls  for 
every  family  a  safe  and  sanitary  home:  healthful  surroundings; 
ample  and  pure  running  water  inside  the  house;  modern  and  sani- 
tary toilet  conveniences  for  its  exclusive  use,  located  inside  the 
building ;  adequate  sunlight  and  ventilation ;  reasonable  fire  protec- 
tion;  privacy;  rooms  of  sufficient  size  and  number  to  decently  house 
the  members  of  the  family ;  freedom  from  dampness ;  prompt,  ade- 
quate collection  of  all  waste  materials.  These  fundamental  re- 
quirements for  normal  living  should  be  obtainable  by  every  family, 
reasonably  accessible  from  place  of  employment,  at  a  rental  not 
to  exceed  20  per  cent,  of  the  family  income. 

2.  Taxes.  To  protect  wage  earners  from  exorbitant  rents 
and  to  secure  for  them  that  increased  municipal  service  <lemandcd 
by  the  massing  together  of  people  in  thickly  settled  industrial  com- 
munities, a  greater  share  of  taxes  to  be  transferred  from  dwellings 
to  land  held  for  speculative  purposes  the  value  of  which  i>  en- 
hanced by  the  very  congestion  of  ihese  industrial  populations. 

3.  Home  Work.  Factory  production  to  be  carried  on  in  fac- 
tories. Whenever  work  is  given  out  to  homes,  abuses  are  sure  to 
creep  in  which  cannot  be  controlled  by  any  known  system  ••^  iTi^pec- 
tion  or  supervision. 

4.  Tenement  Manufacture.  Tenement  house  manufacture 
is  known  to  be  a  serious  menace  to  the  health,  education,  and  eco- 
nomic independence  of  thousands  of  people  in  large  cities.  It 
subjects  children  to  injurious  industrial  burdens  and  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully regulated  by  inspection  or  other  official  supervision.  Pub- 
lic welfare,  therefore,  demands  for  city  tenements  the  entire  prohi- 
bition of  manufacture  of  articles  of  commerce  in  rooms  occupied 
for  dwelling  purposes. 

5.  Labor  Colonies.  In  temporary  construction  camps  and 
labor  colonies,  definite  standards  to  provide  against  over-crowding, 
and  for  ventilation,  water  supply,  sanitation,  to  be  written  into  the 
contract  specifications,  as  now  provided  in  the  New  York  law. 

27 


A.     SPECIFIC  INFORMATION  ON  HOUSING. 

"George  Picto,  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  housing  move- 
ment, in  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  limiting  the  divi- 
dends of  building  societies,  before  the  last  congress  for  cheap 
dwellings,  pointed  out  that  precisely  in  those  districts  w^here 
there  is  the  greatest  congestion  and  w^here  the  conditions  are 
w^orst,  investments  earn  the  highest  dividends."  (Hotchkiss, 
Willard  E.,  "Housing  Problem  in  France" — Municipal  Affairs, 
p.  404.) 

An  investigation  in  Berlin  some  years  ago  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  death  rate  for  families  occupying  one  room  was 
163.5  per  thousand,  for  families  occupying  two  rooms  22.5 
per  thousand,  three  rooms  7.5,  and  four  rooms  or  more  5.4 
per  thousand.  (Riis,  Jacob  A.,  Charities  &  the  Commons, 
Vol.  XVIII,  p.  T!^ 

Infant  mortality  varies  almost  arithmetically  with  housing 
conditions.  Although  children  under  five  are  only  one-ninth- 
of  the  population,  they  furnish  one-third  of  the  deaths. 
(President's  Homes  Commission;  Report  of  Com.  on  Build- 
ing of  Model   Houses,  p.  8.) 

"In  these  one-room  tenements,  the  average  death  rate  for 
a  number  of  given  cities  at  home  and  abroad  is  about  twice 
what  it  is  in  a  two-room  tenement,  four  times  what  it  is  in  a 
three-room  tenement,  and  eight  times  what  it  is  in  a  tenement 
consisting  of  four  rooms  or  over."  (Roosevelt,  Theodore, 
Message   to   Congress,  Dec,   1904.) 

Three-quarters  of  an  hour  between  house  and  work  prac- 
tically establishes  the  limit  of  residence  for  wage-earners. 
(Cargill,  H.  L.,  "Small  Houses  for  Working  Men"  in  The 
Tenement  House  Problem,  p.  331.) 

Model  tenement  buildings,  being  better  constructed,  cost 
more  than  tenements  erected  by  speculative  owners,  but 
rentals  need  not  be  larger.  The  expense  of  management 
is  less  per  given  unit  when  several  contiguous  city  lots  are 
built  upon.  The  repair  account  is  less  by  reason  of  better 
construction  and  more  efficient  management.  There  are  fewer 
vacancies  and  losses  from  irrecoverable  arrears.  .  .  .  Gross 
rental  receipts  of  9%  upon  a  thoroughly  well-built  model  tene- 
ment building  will  yield  as  high  a  net  return  as  gross  rentals 
of  II  to  12%  upon  the  ordinary  tenement.  (Gould,  Elgin 
R.  L..  "Financial  Aspects  of  Recent  Tenement  House  Opera- 
tions in  New  York,"  in  The  Tenement  House  Problem,  pp. 
365-6.) 

Until  better  terminal  facilities  are  arranged  for  New  York, 
so  as  to  distribute  the  crowds  coming  into  the  city  with 
greater  speed  and  less  congestion  it  will  be  impossible  to 
break  up  the  vicious  tenement  system.  (Weber,  Adna  F., 
"Rapid  Transit  and  the  Housing  Problem,"  p.  412.) 

More  girls  have  been  started  in  recent  years  upon  a  life 
of  immorality,  because  of  their  associations  in  the  tenement 
houses,  than  by  all  other  means  combined  that  supply  this 
traffic.  (DeForest,  R.  W.,  &  Veiller,  Lawrence,  "The  Tene- 
ment House  Problem,"  p.  52.) 

The  workingman  in  New  York  is  housed  worse  than  in 
any  other  city  of  the  civilized  world,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  he  pays  more  money  for  such  accommodations  than  is 
paid  elsewhere,  being  compelled  to  give  more  than  one-fourth 
of  his  income  for  rent.     (Ibid.,  p.   115.) 

Every  improvement  made  in  city,  town,  or  village  ...  is 

28 


to  some  extent  exploited  by  the  owner  of  workmen's  dwell- 
ings. (Edwards.  John,  "The  Socialist  Remedy  for  Unheatth- 
ful  Homes,"  in  Municipal  Affairs,  p.  438.) 

Xo  improvement  in  the  size,  convenience,  or  quality  of 
the  workinan'b  home  has  taken  place  during  the  last  hundred 
years  which  has  not  been  forcctl  upon  builders  and  owners  by 
legal   enactment  and   municipal  by-law.      (Ibid.,  p.  44J.) 

The  old  ideal  of  home  which  recjuires  that  every  family 
shall  possess  its  own  dwelling  is  one  which  does  not  harmon- 
ize with  the  economic  conditions  of  our  modern  social  life. 
(Hotchkiss,  Willard  E..  "Housing  Problem  in  Trance,"  in 
Municipal   Affairs,   p.  404.) 

"W  here  cities  grow  vertically  in.stcad  of  horizontally,  they 
tend  to  become  like  a  column  of  water — densest  at  the  bot- 
tom. But  the  growth  of  the  suburbs  depends  upon  three 
things:  the  rapidity  and  efHciency  of  transportation  facilities, 
cost  of  transportation,  and  housing  conditions  in  the  suburbs." 
(Guthrie,  VV.  B.,  "Housing  Problem  in  Germany,"  in  Munic- 
ipal Affairs,  p.  383.) 

Tiie  pre>cnt  position  seems  to  be  that  municipalities  suc- 
ceed in  building  really  very  good  houses,  which  as  a  rule  they 
have  no  difficulty  in  letting,  but  that  the  great  majority  of 
them  have  failed  to  provide  for  the  requirements  of  the  class 
which  perhaps  most  needs  help.  (.Ashley,  Percy,  "Housing 
Problem  in  England,"  in  Municipal  .\fFairs,  p.  371.) 

"A  sort  of  selective  proce>s,  always  going  on.  fi^rces  out 
or  kills  off  those  of  the  immigrant  population  who  are  not 
satisfied  with  or  not  able  to  endure  tenement  conditions, 
leaving  behind  a  peculiar  'type'  that  is  the  despair  of  those 
who  are  working  for  social  betterment  to-day."  (Claghorn, 
Kate  Holladay,  "Foreign  Immigration  and  the  Tenement 
House  in  New  York  City,"  in  The  Tenement  House  Problem, 
p.  78.) 

Some  people  feel  that  the  question  of  housing  comes 
down  to  the  question  of  income.  There  are  too  few  good 
houses,  but  the  present  income  of  the  laboring  classes  can 
apparently  command  no  more.  The  feeling  seems  to  be  gen- 
eral that  if  the  capitalistic  method  of  production  is  detri- 
mental to  the  interests  of  the  laboring  classes,  the  capital- 
istic management  of  consumption  is  still  more  injurious.  The 
control  of  the  housing  interests  should  be  more  socialized. 
(Guthrie.  \V.  B.,  "Housing  Problem  in  Germany,"  in  Munic- 
ipal Affairs,  p.  393.) 

Either  the  city  nmst  be  prepared  at  no  diNtant  flate  to 
house  all  the  poorer  class  of  tenement  dwellers,  or  it  must 
leave  them  to  be  housed  as  heretofore  by  individual  enter- 
prise properly  regulated  by  law.  (Del'orest.  Roht.  \\'..  "Mu- 
nicipal Regulation — Not  Ownership,"  in  Municipal  .\ffairs, 
p.  452.) 

Simple  houses  for  the  well-doing  poor  may  yield  a  small 
interest  to  a  philanthropic  investor  or  to  a  municipality;  but 
with  regard  to  the  poor  who  are  not  well-doing  experiments 
are  urgently  called  for  in  building  houses  which,  if  they  do 
not  immediately  pay  .£.  s..  d.  will  ultimately  pay  in  dimin- 
ished disease,  pauperism,  and  crime.  (Mann.  John.  Jr..  "Hous- 
ing the  Very  l^oor."  in   Municipal   .Affairs,  p.  4.^rt.'> 

Indirect  taxation,  by  enliaiirinvj  rents  .Tiid  prices  which 
the  poor  must  pay.  takes  from  them  part  of  what  they  actu- 
ally receive  for  their  w<irk.  By  enforcing  abnormal  econo- 
mies   and    thereby    diminishing    the    demand    for   workers,    it 

29 


restricts  their  incomes  by  contracting  their  earning  oppor- 
tunities. (Post,  Louis  F.,  "The  Taxing  Power  and  the  Hous- 
ing Problem,"  in  Municipal  Affairs,  p.  420.) 

"Were  indirect  municipal  taxation  abandoned  in  favor 
of  taxation  in  proportion  to  site  values,  all  other  causes  of 
the  housing  problem  could  be  easily  combated  and  overcome. 
The  working  poor  themselves  could  overcome  them.  For 
site  monopoly  as  well  as  tax  extortion  would  largely  disap- 
pear."    (Ibid.,  p.  424.) 

"The  evil  effects  (of  overcrowded,  unsanitary  homes)  are 
cumulative.  Each  generation  starts  with  an  enfeebled  consti- 
tution to  the  economic  loss  of  the  nation."  (Dewsnup,  E.  R., 
"Housing  Problem  in  England,"  p.  24.) 

L.ABOR  Colonies. — "The  standard  charge  for  bunking  in 
these  camps  is  $1  a  month  per  man.  There  is  much  over- 
crowding, and  the  shanties  and  wooden  shacks  are  almost 
uniformly  dirty,  the  air  being  frequently  stifling  and  malodor- 
ous. Sanitary  conditions  in  and  about  these  shanties  are 
usually  bad."  (Report  of  the  New  York  State  Commission 
on  Immigration,    1909.) 

"Such  conditions  are  injurious,  not  only  to  the  workers 
and  their  families,  but  to  the  community  and  to  the  State, 
which  suffers  from  the  physical  and  moral  degeneration  caused 
by  herding  human  beings  like  cattle.  Some  of  the  high  rec- 
ords of  criminality  among  immigrants  might  be  explained  by 
the  conditions  of  living  tolerated  in  the  labor  camps  and  simi- 
lar places."   (Ibid.) 

"The  living  quarters  provided  by  the  canners  are  often 
shamefully  overcrowded.  Fifty  people,  including  men,  women, 
and  children,  may  be  housed  in  an  old  barn;  or  shacks  may 
be  erected  of  the  poorest  construction,  allowing  but  one  small 
room  for  a  whole  family  of  adults  and  children.  Often  sev- 
eral hundred  persons  live  together  in  the  utmost  squalor, 
lacking  all  the  decencies  of  life,  under  unhygienic  conditions 
that  would  not  be  tolerated  in  any  city."  (Goldmark,  Pauline, 
"Child  Labor  in   Canneries.") 

"In  labor  camps  the  working  and  living  conditions  of  men 
are  the  worst  known  in  the  country  and  the  children  are  the 
most  neglected."  (Kellor,  Frances  A.,  "Needed — A  Domestic 
Immigration  Policy.") 

"Of  the  32  canneries  visited  outside  of  Baltimore  City, 
20  depended  partially  or  wholly  upon  help  from  the  city,  and 
the  housing  facilities  of  10  out  of  the  20  contained  sleeping 
shacks  with  single  rooms  occupied  by  from  2  to  15  families." 
(U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  96,  p.  373.) 

"In  the  camps  the  highest  standard  found  assigned  an 
entire  family  to  one  room,  and  the  lowest  crowded  unrelated 
men,  women,  and  children  into  the  same  sleeping  space  with 
absolutely  no  provision  for  privacy.  .  -.  .  No  one  has  yet 
measured  the  train  of  influences  of  such  living  conditions 
upon  the  health  of  the  workers — all  moral  and  ethical  ques- 
tions aside.  .  .  .  This  'free  housing'  is  held  out  by  canner 
and  'row  boss'  as  a  factor  in  compensation."     (Ibid.) 

"Some  (of  the  houses  in  cannery  camps)  were  entirely 
too  close  to  the  cannery,  getting  the  odors  of  decaying  refuse, 
and  when  the  drainage  and  management  of  the  camp  itself 
were  inadequate  offensive  odors  assailed  the  workers  day  and 
night."     (Ibid.) 

TENEMENT  MANUFACTURE.  "Men's  ready-made  cloth- 
ing is  often   finished  in  the  homes  of  a  class  of  people  whose 

30 


under-nourished  condition,  due  to  poverty  and  lack  of  thrift 
and  hygienic  sense,  general  low  !>tandard  of  living,  and  dirty 
habits,  make  them  most  susceptible  to  contagious  diseases; 
hence  it  is  asserted  that  the  practice  of  giving  out  to  workers 
garments  to  be  finished  or  made  up  in  their  homes  is  to  place 
the  wearer  in  the  way  of  contracting  tuberculosis  and  other 
contagious  or  infectious  diseases,  or  of  catching  vermin. 
.  .  .  Doctors  who  will  agree  to  conceal  diseases  fron>  the 
health  department  arc  the  most  popular  with  the  garment 
workers,  .\gents  of  the  ( l'.  S.)  Bureau  (of  Labor)  found 
women  working  on  garments  while  children  in  the  house  were 
suffering  with  contagious  diseases.  .  .  .  It  is  not  claimed 
that  all  home  finishing  is  done  under  unsanitary  or  revolting 
conditions,  yet  the  fact  that  it  can  be  done  under  such  condi- 
tions, and  that  much  of  it  is  so  done,  forces  the  conclusion 
that  such  a  method  of  manufacture  should  be  abolished  in  the 
interest  of  public  health."  (I'.  S.  Senate  Document.  645, 
Vol.  VIII.) 

Of  the  married  j/io/>  finishers  none  earned  less  than 
$2.00  in  a  full  week,  while  practically  15  per  cent,  of  the  mar- 
ried lunnc  finishers  earned  less  than  that  amount;  .  .  . 
a  little  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  married  home  t'lnishers 
earned  less  than  $3.00  a  week.  (United  States  Report  on 
Woman  and  Child  Wage  Earners  in  the  Nfen's  Ready-Made 
Clothing   Industry.     Senate    Doc.  645,   Vol.   VIII.) 

The  compensation  which  the  home  workers  receive  for 
their  labor  is,  as  a  rule,  such  that  they  do  not  eani  enough  to 
provide  even  the  shelter,  food,  and  raiment,  essential  to  main- 
tain a  moderate  standard  of  pliysical   efficiency.     (Ibitl.  p.  28) 

Of  114  flower  making  firms,  91  gave  out  part  of  their  work 
to  home  workers.  Of  these  firms  76  reported  the  number  of 
home  workers  on  their  pay  rolls  as  2,300  families.  In  no 
families  interviewed  by  our  investigators  there  were  226  out- 
side wage  earners  and  371  home  workers,  or  an  average  of 
more  than  three  home  workers  in  a  family.  On  the  basis  of 
the  number  of  families  reported  by  the  employers,  it  would 
appear,  therefore,  that  nearly  7.000  home  workers  are  em- 
ployed to  make  artificial  flowers  in  New  York.  (Van  Klceck. 
Mary.  "Makers  of   Artificial   Flowers.") 

Over  30  per  cent,  of  the  family  groups  earned  a  weekly 
wage  of  less  than  $5.00,  although  in  83  per  cent,  of  the  families 
there  are  two  or  more  home  workers.  Sixty  per  cent,  lost 
from  three  to  six  months."     (Ibid.) 

"I  found  one  tenement  containing  two  or  three  families 
of  home  workers  in  which  there  was  a  child  exceedingly  ill 
with  diphtheria.  I  found  one  woman  finishing  pants  who 
was  ill  of  tonsilitis.  I  twice  found  children  with  bad  sore 
throats  making  flowers.  They  constantly  put  their  fingers  to 
their  mouths  to  make  them  moist.  .  .  .  Children  with  sore 
eyes  an<l  cars,  so  sore  that  they  matterated,  I  constantly 
found  working."  (Quin,  Harhara  Story,  "Relation  of  Home 
Work  to  the  Standard  of  Living.") 

"They  all  help  with  the  flowers,  which  were  daisies  the 
first  time'  I  called.  They  receive  10  cents  a  gross.  They  can 
never  earn  more  than  $4  a  week  at  this  kind  of  work,  and 
usually  earn  about  $3.  The  mother  never  goes  to  bed  before 
midnight,  and  is  always  up  by  four  o'clock  in  the  morning." 

(Ibid.)  ^  .     ,  J 

I'actorics  can  be  moved  away  from  congested  places,  and 

their  workers  with  them.  .  .  .  .\  step  toward  inducing  migra- 

31 


tion  to  the  suburbs  would  be  the  prohibition  of  child  labor, 
not  only  in  factories  and  stores,  but  in  every  kind  of  busi- 
ness; and  the  establishment  of  the  minimum  age  of  employ- 
ment at  i6  instead  of  14  years.  (Weber,  Adna  F.,  "Rapid 
Transit  and  the  Housing  Problem,"  Municipal  Afifairs,  pp. 
415-6.) 

Reduction  in  rates  of  fare  are  necessary  for  diffusion  or 
population.  Cheap  trains  might  be  run  morning  and  evening. 
(Ibid.) 

The  continuous  attention,  year  in  and  j-ear  out,  of  some 
one  body  directly  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  tenement 
house  laws  is  essential  for  their  administration.  (DeForest, 
R.  W.,  &  Veiller,  Lawrence,  "The  Tenement  House  Prob- 
lem.") 

"Officials  in  several  states  have  testified  to  the  physical 
impossibility  of  enforcing  laws  regulating  home  finishing. 
No  single  state  can  afford  to  employ  a  corps  of  inspectors  suf- 
ficiently numerous  to  make  more  than  a  cursorj^  inspection 
of  licensed  houses.  Proper  inspection  would  require  almost 
daily  visits  to  innumerable  homes."     (U.  S.  Senate  Doc,  645, 

Vol.  vni.) 

"All  laws  'regulating'  tenement  house  manufacture  are 
more  or  less  ineffective  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  prin- 
cipal purpose  for  which  they  have  been  enacted,  namely  the 
preservation  of  the  public  health."     (Ibid.) 

"The  nature  of  this  system  of  industry  is  such  that  its 
evils  are  its  essence.  Strictly  speaking  'regulation'  has  no 
place  in  an  attempt  to  deal  with  such  conditions.  To  abol- 
ish the  evils  means  to  abolish  the  system;  to  'regulate'  the 
system  means  nothing.  The  test  of  the  effectiveness  of  such 
legal  responsibility  would  be  its  tendency  to  eliminate  the 
home-work  system.  No  matter  what  may  be  the  path  of 
approach,  it  seems  that  prohibition,  direct  or  indirect,  of  all 
manufacture  carried  on  in  living  rooms  is  the  ultimate  solu- 
tion of  the  problem."  (Van  Kleeck,  Mary,  Charities  and  the 
Commons,^  Jan.   18,   1908.) 

B.    FEDERAL,  STATE,  OR  FOREIGN  LAWS  ON 
HOUSING, 

TENEMENT  HOUSE  ORDINANCE,  COLUMBUS, 
OHIO.  Height  of  building  not  to  exceed  distance  from  house 
to  opposite  side  of  widest  street  on  which  it  stands.  In  cor- 
ner lots  not  more  than  75%  and  interior  lots  not  more  than 
50%  to  be  occupied  by  building.  Back  yards  proportionate 
to  height  of  building.  Courts  proportionate  to  height  of 
building  and  open  at  top.  Rooms,  minimum  size;  windows, 
%  floor  area  of  room,  opening  on  court  or  street.  Halls,  mini- 
mum ventilation,  size,  light.  Fireproof  if  over  3  stories. 
Two  separate  flights  of  stairs.  Halls  and  stairs  fireproof. 
Yards  to  connect  with  street.  Running  water  and  water 
closets  in  each  apartment.  Enforcement  by  Board  of  Health 
of  lighting,  ventilation,  and  sanitation  provisions;  by  Build- 
ing Department   of  remaining  provisions. 

The  New  York  Tenement  House  Law  (1901)  has  the  fol- 
lowing general  provisions:  Abolishment  of  the  "dumb  bell" 
type  of  tenement,  and  substitution  of  the  "new  law"  tenement 
with  large  courts,  providing  light  and  ventilation  to  every 
room;  no  window  is  within  less  than  12  feet  of  an  opposite 

32 


window,  and  usually  the  space  is  25  feet;  air  shafts  are  abol- 
ished; overcrowding  checked  by  limiting  height  and  ground 
space  of  tenements;  running  water  and  water  closets  in  each 
apartment;  no  dark  halls;  tireproof  Hoors  between  cellar  and 
rest  of  building,  and  fireproof  halls  and  stairs;  metal  stairs 
required  for  fire  escapes.  By  amendment,  semi-fireproof  con- 
struction is  permitted  in  four-story  houses  or  less.  Above 
six  stories  whole  tenement  must  be  fireproof.  Direct  access 
to  fire  escapes  from  each  apartment.  Enforcement  by  Tene- 
ment   House    Department. 

New  Jersey  has  a  law  similar  to  the  New  York  law. 

See  also  Chicago,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Boston  and  other 
building  ordinances. 

England. — County  councils  appoint  medical  health  inspec- 
tors. General  duty  to  report  on  work  of  smaller  authorities. 
These  local  boards  have  duty  of  inspecting  sanitary  condi- 
tions, make  by-laws,  and  enforce  changes.  They  employ 
medical  officers,  inspectors,  etc.,  for  whom  the  central  gov- 
ernment pays  half  the  salaries,  and  holds  dismissing  power. 
London  County  Council  and  urban  authorities  elsewhere  re- 
quired to  clear  any  large  area  condemned  as  unhealthy  on 
report  of  medical  officer.  Local  authority  deals  with  cleared 
area  as  it  sees  fit.  Local  authorities  may  order  single  houses 
closed  or  demolished;  and  may  purchase  land  on  which  they 
stand.  Building  on  cleared  land  by  local  authority  must  be 
authorized  by  local  government  board  of  county  council. 
Money  may  be  borrowed  for  these  purposes,  on  approval  of 
Local  Government  Board,  on  taxes.  Tenants  dispossessed 
must  be  rehoused  by  local  authorities,  or  railway  expropriat- 
ing land.  Local  authorities  may  purchase  land  for  building 
purposes  outside  their  own  boundaries  if  necessary. 

France. — In  1894  established  superior  council  on  work- 
ingmen's  homes.  Under  this  council  local  councils  are  organ- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  local  building  movement. 
Charitable  institutions,  hospitals,  etc.,  may  invest  certain  pro- 
portion of  their  funds  in  securities  of  building  societies,  etc., 
and  savings  banks  may  also  do  this  under  certain  restrictions. 
Such  societies  must  not  receive  more  than  4  per  cent,  divi- 
dends. Certain  taxes  are  remitted  to  builders — private  and 
corporations.  Law  applies  only  to  homes  for  workers  of 
limited  incomes. 

Belgium. — National  savings  bank,  on  approval  of  local 
committee  for  study  of  sanitary  conditions,  may  invest  por- 
tions of  its  funds  in  purchase  or  construction  of  houses  for 
the  poor.  These  loans  are  made  to  joint  societies  of  credit 
or  construction,  which  conduct  operations.  Public  authorities 
in  cities  also   undertake  building   operations   direct. 

In  Germany  the  zoning  or  districting  system  is  generally 
in  vogue,  and  the  local  authorities  have  the  right  to  limit  the 
size  of  buildings,  or  the  number  of  stories,  as  well  as  the  pro- 
portion of  the  lot  area  that  may  be  occupied  in  the  outlying 
sections  of  the  city  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  the  center  of 
the  city.  Among  such  cities  are  Munich.  Dusscidorf,  Cologne, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  Mannheim. 

Holland. — Dutch  Parliament  has  made  the  funds  of  the 
National  Savings  Bank  available  for  cooperative  building  so- 
cieties, of  which  there  are  large  numbers  in  the   country. 

Under  the  Cotters*  Act,  cotters'  cottages  in  Scotland  are 
entirely  exempt  from  taxation. 

33 


C.     STANDARDS  OF  HOUSING  ALREADY  ACCEPTED. 

"The  Church  must  stand  for  the  suppression  of  the  sweat- 
ing system."  (Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America.) 

"We  hold  that  our  Church  ought  to  declare  for  the  re- 
moval of  unsanitary  dwellings  and  the  relief  or  prevention  of 
congestion  of  population,  so  that  there  may  be  proper  physi- 
cal basis  for  Christian  family  life."  (Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sions of  the  Presbyterian  Church.) 

"We  recommend  measures  against  congestion,  and  for 
proper   sanitation."      (Association    of    American    Physicians.) 

"The  city  shall  acquire  land,  which  shall  be  platted 
according  to  modern  principles  of  city  planning,  devoting  cer- 
tain definite  territory  to  manufacturing  purposes,  others  to 
mercantile  and  others  to  residence  purposes.  Upon  the  latter 
the  city  shall  erect  model  dwelling  houses  for  the  people,  to 
be  rented  at  rates  sufficient  to  cover  the  cost  of  construction 
and  maintenance.  Building  code  to  be  carefully  revised  to 
prevent  building  insanitary  dwellings;  overcrowding  to  be 
prohibited."      (Socialist   Party.) 

"Congestion,  minimizing  amount  of  air  to  each  person, 
diminishes  labor  power.  .  .  .  High  rents  necessitate  reduction 
of  cost  of  living  by  boarding  of  strangers,  causing  congestion, 
lowering  moral  standards."  (Council  of  Jewish  Women, 
N.  Y.  Section.) 

"No  home  work  should  be  permitted — absolutely  no  excep- 
tion to  be  made  to  this  rule.  High  rentals  cause  necessity 
for  longer  hours  of  labor,  curtailment  of  schooling  of  children 
who  must  assist."     (N.  Y.  Section,  Council  of  Jewish  Women.) 

Laws  should  be  so  changed  as  to  hold  the  landlord  re- 
sponsible for  knowing  what  is  going  on  in  his  buildings.  Also, 
there  should  be  some  way  of  making  the  halls  of  tenement 
houses  come  within  police  jurisdiction,  as  public  highways. 
pp.  i8,  19.  (Adler,  Dr.  Felix,  "Prostitution  as  a  Tenement 
House  Evil,"  in  The  Tenement  House  Problem.) 

Germany. — General  Cooperative  Union,  consisting  of 
smaller  cooperative  bodies;  Old  Age  Pension  Funds,  banks, 
philanthropists,  etc.,  lend  money  to  these  cooperative  bodies 
for  building  purposes.  "Public  bodies  favor  cooperative 
building  associations  in  preference  to  other  agencies,  because, 
by  means  of  their  joint  liability  and  their  effective  control 
over  each  member,  they  afford  the  greatest  security,  warrant- 
ing advances  up  to  75,  80,  90,  in  one  case  even  97  per  cent., 
of  the  value  of  the  buildings;  and  also  because  they  do  the 
best  work  in  providing  exactly  the  kind  of  houses  which  are 
wanted  at  a  comparatively  small  cost."  (Wolff,  Henry  W., 
"Cooperative  Housing,"  in  Municipal  Affairs.) 

Nearly  400  German  cities  now  have  a  land  increment  tax. 

In  1885  the  English  Royal  Commissioners  on  Housing 
recommended  taxing  "land  available  for  building  outside  of 
towns  at  4  per  cent,  on  its  selling  value." 


34 


V.     TERM  OF  WORKING  LIFE. 

Society  may  reasonably  demand  from  every  normal  individual 
his  self-support  durinp:  a  certain  period  of  life.  This  period  should 
be  bounded  by  a  minimum  age,  to  protect  against  premature  labor, 
and  a  maximum  age  beyond  which  the  wage  earner  should  find 
himself  economically  independent  of  daily  labor.  Adoption  of  the 
following  standards  will  promote  this  end. 

1.  Employment  of  Children.  Prohibition  of  all  wage-earn- 
ing occupations  for  children  under   i6  years  of  age. 

2.  EMrLOVMKNT  ov  W'oME.v.  Prohibition  of  employment  of 
women  in  manufacturing,  commerce,  or  other  trades  where  work 
compels  standing  constantly.  Also  prohibition  for  a  period  of  at 
least  eight  weeks  at  time  of  child  birth. 

3.  Intermittent  Employment.  Any  industrial  occupation 
subject  to  rush  periods  and  out-of-work  seasons  to  be  considered 
abnormal,  and  subject  to  Government  review  and  regulation.  Offi- 
cial investigation  of  such  intermittent  employment  and  other  forms 
of  unemployment  as  a  basis  for  better  distribution  of  immigrants, 
for  guiding  seasonal  laborers  from  trade  to  trade,  and  other 
methods  for  lessening  these  evils. 

4.  The  Unemplov.vrle.  The  restrictions  ujJon  employers  set 
forth  in  this  platform  will  lead  them  to  refuse  to  engage  any  who 
fall  below  a  grade  of  industrial  efficiency  which  renders  their  work 
profitable.  An  increased  army  of  industrial  outcasts  will  be  thrown 
upon  society  to  be  cared  for  in  pul)lic  labor  colonies  or  by  various 
relief  agencies.  This  condition  will  in  turn  necessitate  a  minimum 
standard  of  preparation,  including  at  least  sufficient  educational 
opportunity  to  abolish  illiteracy  among  all  minors  and  to  train 
every  minor  over  16  years  of  age  to  some  form  of  industrial 
efficiency. 

A.     SPECIFIC    lNFOKMATK).\   OX    TKKM    OF   WORK- 
IN  Ci  LIFK. 

"According  to  the  testimony  of  many  observers,  the  in- 
dustrial overstrain  of  women  has  commonly  reacted  in  three 
visible  ways:  in  a  heightened  infant  mortality,  a  lowered  birth 
rate,  and  an  impaired  second  generation. "  (Cioldmark. 
Josephine,  "F'atigue  and  Efficiency,"  p.  91.) 

35 


''Overtime  means  something  more  than  an  over-long 
period  of  work.  It  means  irregular  work;  it  means  evening 
work  after  and  in  addition  to  day  work,  often  without  pre- 
vious notice  to  the  employe;  it  means  in  many  trades  that 
worst  sequence,  overwork  followed  by  out-of-work,  a  'rush' 
season  of  too  m.uch  work  with  the  slack  season  of  no  work 
and  destitution  close  behind  it."     (Ibid.,  p.  175.) 

"It  is  a  fatuous  policy  of  the  state  to  permit  a  minor 
to  sacrifice  during  his  years  of  possible  physical  develop- 
ment that  which  he  cannot  hope  to  regain  or  correct  com- 
pletely in  his  later  years;  to  sacrifice  a  material  portion  of 
that  practical  efficiency  which  would  otherwise  be  his  and 
which  he  requires  to  give  him  that  place  in  life  to  which  he 
is  by  nature  entitled."  (Freiberg,  Dr.  Albert  H.,  "Some  Ef- 
fects of  Improper  Posture  in  Factory  Labor.") 

"The  recognized  standard  of  all  civilized  nations  excludes 
the  child  under  14  years  from  the  field  of  competitive  indus- 
try. This  we  have  adopted  as  a  minimum  standard,  below 
which  no  community,  alert  to  its  larger  interest,  can  afiford 
to  fall.  .  .  .  The  state  is  the  natural  guardian  and  protector 
of  all  minor  children,  and  it  is  our  contention  that  the  labor 
of  all  minors  should  be  regulated  in  harmony  with  principles 
that  conserve  individual  and  social  interests."  (National 
Child  Labor  Committee,  "Seven  Years  of  Child  Labor  Re- 
form.") 

The  labor  of  children  and  minors  is  a  particularly  valu- 
able asset  in  the  financial  scheme  of  most  immigrant  fami- 
lies, who  will  seek  the  most  favorable  location  for  its  exploi- 
tation. The  large  city  provides  the  largest  opportunities 
for  such  exploitation.  (Weber.  Adna  F.,  "Rapid  Transit  and 
the  Housing  Problem,"  in  Municipal  Affairs,  p.  316.) 

"The  average  woman  who  earns  her  living  as  a  domestic 
is  commercially  dead  after  she  is  45  years  of  age.  There  is 
no  place  for  a  man  fifty  years  of  age,  if  he  is  a  common 
laborer,  if  he  shows  his  age."  (Report  of  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission of  Wisconsin.) 

"Not  only  are  the  American  industrial  people  often  under- 
fed, under-clothed,  and  under-housed;  they  are  forced  to  toil 
under  severe  nervous  strain,  are  early  worn  out,  and  then  they 
are  cast  aside."     (Streightof¥,  "Standard  of  Living,"  p.  126.) 

"The  report  (U.  S.  Senate  Document  645,  Vol.  I.)  shows 
that  20%  of  the  employes  in  Southern  cotton  mills  are  under 
the  age  of  16  in  spite  of  the  laws  passed  in  all  the  Southern 
states  since  1900.  But  the  report  itself  shows  it  has  been 
ultraconservative  in  its  estimate  of  the  number  of  children 
employed."  .  .  .  "In  one  yarn  mill  in  South  Carolina  employ- 
ing 168  persons,  70  were  children  under  16.  In  a  cloth  mill 
in  that  state  39.6%  of  the  employes  were  children.  In  Mis- 
sissippi, which  then  had  no  child  labor  law,  42.8%  of  the  em- 
ployes in  a  small  yarn  mill  were  children.  In  143  establish- 
ments visited,  9,126  children  were  found  employed,  753  of 
whom  were  under  the  legal  age  of  12  years."  (McKelway, 
A.  J..  "The  Cotton  Mill:     The  Herod  Among  Industries.") 

"It  is  readily  seen  that  with  these  children  working  at 
these  ages  (cotton  mill  workers  under  14)  and  with  no  op- 
portunity for  their  education,  we  are  simply  perpetuating  and 
multiplying  the  poverty  and  ignorance  of  the  present  gen- 
eration. If  the  law  did  not  permit  the  burden  of  support 
to  be  laid  upon  these  young  children  of  the  family;  some 
way  would  be   found  by  humane  and  kind-hearted  people  to 

36 


give  them  a  better  chance  in  life."  (McKelway.  A  J  ,  'Child 
Labor  in  Georgia.") 

"The  old  apprenticeship  system  has  practically  died  out 
and  the  present  system  of  subdivision  and  specialization  in 
industry  confines  the  beginner  to  one  machme  or  one  opera- 
tion and  gives  him  no  chance  to  learn  the  trade  as  a  whole. 
Consequently  the  ranks  ..f  unskilled  and  low-grade  labor  are 
overcrovvded,  industry  suffers  for  want  of  skilled  workmen, 
and  the  individual  worker  hnds  his  life  narrow  and  monoton- 
ous, his  work  a  mere  round  of  drudgery  instead  of  a  means 
of  self-expression.  Out  of  this  situation  has  gn.wn  the  de- 
mand for  a  system  of  education  which  shall  meet  the  needs  of 
workers  of  the  industrial  classes  at  least  as  thoroughly  as  the 
established  system  meets  those  of  the  professional  and  com- 
mercial classes."  (25th  Annual  Report,  United  State*  Com- 
missioner of  Labor.   1910.) 

"On  the  whole,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  higher  grade  and 
a  greater  age  do  not  guarantee  better  positions  and  higher 
earnings.  ...  In  the  formative  period,  from  14  to  16.  what- 
ever discipline  the  school  has  given  is  of  little  service  in 
unskilled  juvenile  occupations."  Talbert.  E.  L..  "Opportuni- 
ties for  School  and  Industry  for  Children  of  the  Stockyards 
District,"  p.  34.) 

"The  promising  child  of  ten  degenerates  into  the  lean 
and  sallow  young  person  of  thirteen,  and  this  process  is 
continued  until  a  whole  population  becomes  stunted;  and  thus 
the  conditions  of  life  in  factory  towns  become  a  real  source 
of  danger  to  England's  future."  (Torrop,  James  S.,  Nf.  D., 
Certifying  Factory  Surgeon,  Heywood,  Lancashire,  in  "Hy- 
giene,"  May.    1801.) 

"Only  3%  (of  the  622  children  investigated  in  six  states 
who  left  school  to  go  to  work)  of  these  children  were  work- 
ing at  occupations  in  which  the  maximum  wage  was  $15.00 
or  over,  90%  were  in  trades  where  adults  earn  less  than 
$10.00.  The  children's  opportunities  for  advancement  with- 
out a  change  of  employment  were  slight,  and  in  many  cases 
advancement  in  pay  ceases  automatically  at  16  years,  showing 
that  the  work  was  schemed  for  children  alone,  giving  no 
opportunity  for  educational  or  financial  growth — the  "dead 
end'  occupations  which  blight  youth.  520  out  of  the  622  chil- 
dren received  less  than  $5.50  a  week.  374  less  than  $5.00. 
Less  than  4%  worked  less  than  9  hours  a  day;  half  of  them 
worked    10  hours  a  day  or  over."     (U.   S.  Senate    Document 

645,  Vol.  vn.) 

"When  wretched  housing  conditions,  gross  overcrowding, 
and  poor  nourishment  (for  mothers  will  not  take  time  to  pre- 
pare meals)  are  added,  the  physical  condition  of  children  in 
the  canneries  is  indeed  deplorable.  So  little  do  the  foreign 
mothers  realize  the  injury  done  to  growing  children  under 
these  conditions,  that  they  kcei'  urging  even  the  youngest 
to  work,  sharply  repressing  childish  playfulness  and  clamor." 
(Goldmark.  Pauline.  "Do  Children  Work  in  the  Canneries?") 

"There  is  no  more  reason  to  permit  the  parents'  igno- 
rance or  greed  to  injure  the  chihl's  welfare  here  than  in  any 
other  form  of  child  labor.  Indeed  froni  the  point  of  view 
of  need,  the  employment  of  young  children  in  canneries  is 
even  less  excusable  than  in  other  occupations  where  adult 
members  of  the  family  are  not  employed  with  them."     (Ibid.) 

"Far  from  having  any  educational  value,  the  w.->rk  which 
young    children    now    perform    teaches    them   chiefly    instabil- 

Z7 


ity  and  disregard  of  the  future."     (Kelley,   Florence,   Illinois 
Report  Factory  Inspector,  1896,  p.  28.) 

"We  cannot  afford  to  destroy  men  and  women  in  their 
childhood  for  the  sake  of  cheapening  commodities.  ...  A 
people  develops  capacity  for  production  and  achieves  a  lead- 
ing place  in  art  and  industry  by  comfort,  education,  short 
hours  of  labor,  etc.,  but  never  by  child  labor,  long  hours,  or 
brutalizing  environment."  (Ludw^ig,  Andrew  B.,  Kentucky 
Report   Labor  Inspector,   1903,   pp.    132-3-) 

"I  believe  that  we  owe  it  to  ourselves  and  to  posterity 
and  to  the  workingmen  of  our  State,  that  the  age  of  labor 
be  raised  in  order  to  lessen  the  tendency  to  bring  the  labor 
of  children  into  competition  with  men  and  women."  (At- 
kinson, Gov.  G.  W.,  W.  Va.,  Bureau  of  Labor  Report,  1899- 
1900,  p.  218.) 

"It  is  more  than  vain  to  talk  about  the  claims  of  parents 
to  profit  by  the  wages  of  their  children.  Their  children  are 
not  chattels,  but  human  beings,  with  rights  of  their  own, 
which  no  parents  for  their  own  pleasures  or  uses  may  vio- 
late. And  if  parents  fail  to  protect  the  rights  of  their  chil- 
dren, the  commonwealth  is  bound  to  do  so."  (Cardinal  Man- 
ning:  Mass.    District   Police  report,    1891,  p.  23.) 

"It  is  obvious  that  children  of  10,  12,  and  14  years  of 
age  may  be  steadily  worked  in  our  manufactories  without 
any  schooling,  and  that  this  cruel  deprivation  may  be  perse- 
vered in  for  years  and  yet  no  dangerous  outbreak  may  occur 
to  arouse  the  public  mind  from  its  guilty  slumbers.  The  retri- 
bution waits  the  full  completion  of  the  offense.  But  when 
they  go  blunted  in  morals,  blind  in  intellect,  from  the  sphere 
of  childhood  to  full  political  sovereignty,  there  will  come  a 
terrible  retribution."  (Mann,  Horace,  Wisconsin  Labor  Sta- 
tistics,  1899-1900,  p.  277.) 

"Upon  the  proper  distribution  of  labor  in  the  labor  mar- 
ket depend  production,  wages,  and  stability  of  employment." 
(Women's  Educational  &  Industrial  Union,  Boston,  "Labor 
Laws  and  Their  Enforcement,"  p.  337.) 

There  is  often  a  large  unsatisfied  demand  for  unskilled 
labor  while  at  the  same  time  there  is  a  large  supply  of  much 
labor  unemployed  in  neighboring  districts.  (tJ.  S.  Bureau 
of  Labor,  Bulletin  68.) 

In  ordinary  years  of  business  prosperity,  taking  all  indus- 
tries into  consideration,  out  of  every  one  hundred  persons, 
sixty  will  be  steadily  employed;  forty  will  be  working  irregu- 
larly. Of  those  who  have  irregular  employment,  three  will 
be  out  of  work.  (N.  Y.  Com.  on  Employers'  Liability,  and 
Unemployment,    191 1.) 

Eliminating  idleness  due  to  disability  and  labor  disputes, 
the  mean  percentage  of  unemployment  for  the  last  half  of  1910 
was  I  I.I  as  compared  with  10.8  for  1909.  Similar  figures  for 
the  end  of  December  are  15.51  for  1910  as  against  16.6  in 
1909.     (N.  Y.  Dept.  of   Labor,   Bulletin,   March,   191 1.) 

In  1905  in  New  York  State  there  was  a  difference  between 
the  maximum  requirements  and  minimum  requirements  for 
workers  in  all  manufacturing  industries  of  not  less  than 
300,000.      (U.   S.   Census  of  Manufactures.    1905.) 

Unemployment  is  always  a  factor  in  modern  industry; 
the  average  miner  can  work  from  year  to  year  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  time;  in  other  industries,  the  average  unemploy- 
ment from  year  to  year  is  almost  one-fifth.  In  some  years 
the  unemployment  is  several  times  more  severe  than  in  others. 

38 


•  .  •  ""^^''^  thiiiK  ir,  clear— ca>ual  labor  i>  inetlicirnt.  cheap,  and 
disastrous  to  the  casual  laborer."  (NearinK.  'Wages  in  the 
U.  S.,     pp.  199,  200.) 

"It  is  the  irregularity  in  the  requirements  of  industry  troin 
month  to  ni..nth  that  is  the  chief  cause  of  unemployment  " 
(Prof.  Seager,  ".Social   Insurance.") 

B.     FEDERAL,  STATE,  OR  FOREIGN  LAWS  ON 
TERM  OF  WORKING  LIFE 

Children   under   14  years  of  age  are  prohibited  from  tht 
principal   wage-earning   occupations  in   the   following   states: 
Arizona  Louisiana  North  Dakota 

Colorado  Massachusetts   Ohio 

Delaware  Michigan  Oregon 

District  of  Columhin      Minnesota  Pennsylvania 

Illinois  Missouri  Rhode   Island 

Indiana  Mississippi*        Tennessee 

Iowa  Nebraska  Wisconsin 

Kansas  New  Jersey 

Kentucky  New   York 

(*  Boys   12.) 

In  addition  to  these  a  number  of  other  states  forbid 
child  labor  under  14  years  in  any  occupation  while  the  schools 
are  in  session. 

TRADE  EDUCATION.  In  Wisconsin  wherever  evening, 
continuation,  industrial,  or  commercial  schools  are  estab- 
lished by  cities  or  towns,  children  from  14  to  16  must  attend 
not  less  than  5  hours  per  week  for  6  months.  Employers 
must  reduce  the  hours  of  such  children  not  less  than  the  num- 
ber of  hours  which  they  must  attend  these  schools.  Illiterate 
minors  over  14  may  not  be  employed  where  there  are  such 
schools  unless  in  attendance  upon  them,  and  they  must  fur- 
nish employer  weekly  with  written  report  of  attendance. 

LAWS  CONCERNING  WOMEN.  Massachusetts  in 
1910  prohibited  the  employment  of  pregnant  women  for  two 
weeks  before  and  four  weeks  after  childbirth.  New  York 
this  year  prohibited  employment  for  four  weeks  after  child- 
birth. Practically  all  foreif^n  countries  have  similar  legisla- 
tion, frequently  extending  the  prohibited  period  to  eight  weeks, 
and  Austria.  Belgium,  Denmark.  Germany,  Great  Britain, 
Italy,  Norway,  and  Russia  provide  insurance  or  medical  aid 
in  some  form. 

In  Belgium,  Holland.  Austria,  and  Denmark  (except  upon 
medical  certificate  stating  that  it  will  not  injure  mother  or 
child),  women  must  not  be  employed  in  industry  within  four 
weeks   of  childbirth. 

Switzerland  requires  total  absence  from  work  of  eight 
weeks,  six  of  them  after  childbirth;  longer  period  in  trades 
exposing  women  to  phosphorus,  lead,  mercury,  sulphuric  acid, 
or  in  dry  cleaning  works,  india  rubber  works,  and  processes 
requiring  lifting  and  carrying  heavy  weights  or  exposure  to 
violent  shocks. 

In  Germany  women  must  not  be  employed  within  four 
weeks  after  childbirth.  This  time  is  extended  to  six  weeks 
unless  woman  presents  certificate  approving  employment  at 
end  of  four. 

39 


Spain  prohibits  employment  of  women  within  three  weeks 
of  childbirth,  and  provides  time — two  half  hours,  not  to  be 
deducted  from  wages — to  care  for  baby  during  work  day. 

C.     STANDARDS  ALREADY  ACCEPTED  ON  TERM  OF 
WORKING  LIFE. 

"We  hold  that  the  Church  ought  to  declare  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  child  labor,  that  is,  the  protection  of  children  from  ex- 
ploitation in  industry  and  trade;  and  from  work  that  is 
dwarfing,  degrading,  or  morally  unwholesome."  (Presbyterian 
Board  of  Home  Missions.) 

"We  pledge  ourselves  to  the  improvement  of  the  industrial 
condition  of  the  workers  by  forbidding  the  employment  of 
children  under  i6  years  of  age."     (Socialist  Party.) 

"No  children  under  14  years  should  be  employed."  (Assn. 
of  American  Physicians.) 

"We  hold  for  the  abolition  of  child  labor."  (Presbyterian 
Church,  Bureau  of  Social  Service.) 

"The  Churches  must  stand  for  the  abolition  of  child 
labor."  (Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America;  Methodist  Federation  for  Social  Service.) 

"Minimum  age  for  self-support — 16  years.  Maximum 
age — according  to  physical  condition."  (New  York  Section, 
Council  of  Jewish  Women.) 

"Wages  should  be  high  enough  to  give  the  man  of  ordi- 
nary thrift  the  opportunity  to  lay  by  sufficient  to  maintain 
him  in  old  age  after  having  reached  the  age  of  say  65  or 
68."     (Order  of  Railway  Conductors  of  America.) 

"Bad  as  is  the  effect  of  continuous  labor  on  children, 
words  are  not  strong  enough  to  condemn  the  practice  of  em- 
ploying child  labor  at  night.  ...  I  earnestly  commend  to 
the  consideration  of  our  members  the  advisability  of  entirely 
abolishing  the  employment  of  children,  so  that  we  can  in  the 
near  future  say  that  we  employ  child  labor  neither  directly 
nor  indiVectly.  Where  we  employ  them  indirectly,  as  we  do 
in  the  purchase  of  bottles,  the  solution  of  the  problem  is  not 
in  our  hands,  but  surely  our  influence  with  the  bottle  manu- 
facturers is  great  enough  to  abolish  child  labor  in  that  in- 
dustry." (Liebmann,  Julius,  President  (1907-8)  U.  S.  Brewers' 
Association.) 

"No  pregnant  woman  should  be  allowed  to  work  in  a  fac- 
tory, under  continual  strain.  Housework  gives  relief  at  inter- 
vals, but  factory  work  does  not.  .  .  .  No  nursing  mothers 
should  be  permitted  to  work  away  from  home  for  at  least  the 
first  six  months  after  the  birth  of  a  child."  (N.  Y.  Section 
of  the   Council  of  Jewish  Women.) 

"We  recommend  the  prohibition  of  the  employment  of 
pregnant  women  two  months  before  and  after  childbirth." 
.  .  .  "We  recommend  the  appointment  of  women  physicians  as 
health  inspectors,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  visit  all  workshops 
where  women  and  children  are  employed,  to  examine  the 
physical  condition  of  the  workers.  .  .  .  We  recommend  pen- 
sions for  working  mothers  during  the  lying-in  period."  (Na- 
tional Women's  Trade  Union   League.) 


-50 


\I.     COMPKXSATinx  OR  INSL'RANCK. 

CoMi'tiNs.vnuN  Df.manulu.  liotli  social  and  individual  wel- 
fare require  some  effective  system  of  compensation  for  the  heavy 
loss  now  sustained  by  industrial  workers  as  a  result  of  unavoidable 
accidents,  industrial  diseases,  sickness,  invalidity,  involuntary  un- 
employment, and  old  age. 

1.  Accidents.  Equitable  standards  of  compensation  must  be 
determined  by  extensive  experience,  but  there  is  already  ample 
precedent  for  immediate  adoption  as  a  minimum  the  equivalent 
of  four  years'  wages  in  compensation  for  accidents  resulting  fatally. 
Compensation  for  accidents  resulting  in  permanent  disability  should 
not  be  less  than  65  per  cent,  of  the  annual  wage  for  a  period  of 
15  years. 

2.  Trade  Dise.\ses.  For  diseases  clearly  caused  by  nature 
and  conditions  of  the  industry,  the  same  compensation  as  for  acci- 
dents. 

3.  Old  Age.  Service  pensions  or  oKl  age  insurance  when- 
ever instituted  so  protected  that  the  person  who  with«lraws  or  is 
discharged  from  the  employment  of  a  given  company  docs  not  for- 
feit his  equity  in  the  same. 

4.  Uxe-Mflovment.  Unemi)!c)ymcnt  of  able-lwdicd  adult 
men  under  65  years  of  age  is  abnormal  and  wasteful,  and  is  as 
proper  a  subject  for  recognition  by  the  public  authorities  as  con- 
tagious disease  or  other  abnormal  conditions  which  menace  the 
public  well  being.  The  demand  for  insurance  against  unemploy- 
ment increases  with  the  increasing  specialization  in  industry.  The 
development  of  state,  municipal,  and  private  agencies  to  insure 
against  unemployment  in  Kuropean  countries  affords  ample  infor- 
mation for  the  guidance  of  such  enterprises  in  America. 

A.— SPECIFIC    INFORM.\TION    ON    COMPENS.\TION 
OR    INSURANCE. 

The  Report  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor.  1900. 
covers  a  study  of  about  1.200  wnrknicn's  insurance  funds  or 
societies.  The  Report  is  Riven  for  8S  national  or  international 
labor   organizations  operating  >uch   funds,  including   a   study 

41 


of  530  local  labor  organization  funds;  50  railroad  funds,  and 
461  local  establishment  funds  such  as  are  maintained  by  large 
corporations  like  coal  and  iron  companies.  The  labor  organ- 
ization and  industrial  benefit  society  funds  are  mutual  in 
operation.  The  greater  number  of  railroad  relief  funds  are 
handled  by  the  management  and  the  railroad  pension  funds 
,are  exclusively  controlled  by  the  employer.  In  the  estab- 
lishment funds,  however,  the  management  in  74  per  cent,  is 
v^fith  the  members,  in  6.9  per  cent,  with  the  employer,  and  in 
19.1  per  cent,  there  is  joint  management  of  employer  and 
employes.  Nearly  all  the  funds  investigated  attempt  no  more 
than  to  relieve  immediate  necessities.  The  investigation  shows 
that  the  working  man  usually  receives  but  scant  compensa- 
tion for  disabling  injuries  received  in  the  course  of  his  work, 
and  especially  when  he  suffers  the  loss  of  a  part  of  his  body 
or  some  other  permanent  disability.  It  shows  further  that  by 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  compensation  comes  from  the  work- 
ing man  rather  than  from  the  industry  that  presents  the 
hazard.  (United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  23d  Annual  Re- 
port.) 

Only  a  small  percentage  of  the  (workmen's  insurance 
and  benefit)  funds  pay  superannuate  benefits,  that  is,  benefits 
to  members  who  have  passed  a  certain  age.  This  kind  of  in- 
surance has  not  made  much  progress  in  the  United  States,  al- 
though it  seems  to  be  meeting  with  some  favor  in  recent 
years. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years  in  Germany  exports  to 
foreign  countries  have  risen  from  fourth  to  second  place  in 
international  trade.  Emigration  has  practically  ceased,  and 
the  country  is  obliged  to  import  annually  a  million  laborers. 
The  national  wealth  is  doubled.  Wages  have  risen  for  un- 
skilled labor  25  per  cent.;  for  skilled,  50  per  cent.;  in  certain 
trades  the  increase  has  been  as  high  as  100  per  cent.  The 
standard  of  living  of  German  laborers  moves  in  a  constantly 
higher  direction.  Germany  has  the  lowest  percentage  of  un- 
employment. (Prof.  Zacher,  "German  System  and  Foreign 
Countries,  in  the  Arbeiterversorgung,"  March  21,  191 1;  and 
"Combination  of  Compulsory  State  Insurance  with  Voluntary 
Private,"  Ibid.,  Oct.  i,  191 1.) 

All  that  insurance  can  do  is  to  compensate  for  the  loss 
or  damage  brought  to  an  individual  by  a  force  over  which  he 
has  no  control,  and  thus  prevent  extreme  poverty.  The  aver- 
age duration  of  life  in  Germany  has  increased  for  males  from 
38.1  years  to  48.8  years;  for  females  from  42.5  years  to  54.9 
years;  and  this  lowered  mortality  rate  is  in  great  part  due  to 
the  curative  and  preventive  work  of  the  insurance  system. 
(Ibid.) 

"The  investigation  of  43:2  families  of  home  workers  in 
New  York  City  in  1912  shows  134  heads  of  families  regularly 
employed,  while  298  heads  of  families  were  emploj'cd  irregu- 
larly. Among  the  causes  of  idleness  are  the  following:  sick- 
ness, 13;  old  age,  4;  seasonal  trades,  76;  inability  to  find  work, 
205."  (Watson,  Elizabeth  C,  "Home  Work  in  New  York 
City,"   National   Child   Labor   Committee.) 

There  are  3  classes  of  unemployed:  i,  efficient  and  will- 
ing to  work;  2,  inefficient  and  willing  to  work;  3,  unwilling 
to  work.  "A  conservative  estimate  would  be  that  in  ordinary 
years  of  business  activity  the  least  number  out  of  work  is 
about  3  per  cent,  of  the  wage  earners  regularly  employed  in 
the  industries  of  the  state;  while  during  the  winter  months  the 

42 


number  would  rise  to  8  or  lo  per  cent.  In  a  year  of  business 
depression,  like  1908,  the  number  out  of  work  ranges  from 
15  to  30  per  cent.  .  .  .  Over  and  above  the  pcrcentaKcs 
here  Riven  arc  the  beggars,  tramps,  and  vaKrant*.  who  have 
entirely  dropped  out  of  our  in<Iustries."  "Ten  per  cent  of  the 
wage  earners  enK'aKcd  in  manufactures  arc  kept  as  a  reserve 
to  meet  the  fluctuatinf?  monthly  demands  "  "Every  year  from 
one-quarter  to  t>ne-third  of  our  waj^e  earner-  are  turned  out 
of  work  for  various  periods.  .  .  .  At  all  times  of  the  year 
in  every  industrial  center  (»f  the  stale  (New  York)  able- 
bodied  men  are  forced  to  remain  idle  thouKh  willing  to  work  " 
(Commission  on  Employers'  Liability  an«l  Causes  of  Indus- 
trial Accidents;  Unemployment,  and  Lack  of  Farm  Labor. 
Report  of  Committee  «>n  l'nempli)yment.  Ge<»rge  A.  Voss, 
Chairman.) 

"Employers  will  reckon  with  this  responsibility  for  the 
prevention  of  accidents  just  abf>ut  as  fast  as  the  c<»nscience 
of    society    is    arousf<l    on    the    subject.     .     .  .-\n    ctTective 

public  opinion  would  develop  more  ((uickly  in  industrial  com- 
munities if  a  complete  report  of  all  acci<lcnts  were  required." 
(Eastman,   Crystal,  "Work  Accidents  and  the   Law."  pp.    IIO- 

111.) 

"If  accidents  became  a  heavy  and  determinable  cost  to 
the  business  not  dependent  upon  the  cleverness  of  lawyers, 
the  leaninps  of  judges,  or  tlie  sympathies  of  juries,  but  directly 
proportioned  to  the  number  of  <leaths  and  the  number  and 
seriousness  of  injuries  anions  the  men  on  the  payr<-ll.  then 
the  prevention  of  them  would  become  <)l  direct  tcoriomic  in- 
terest to  tiic  employer  One  economic  motive  would  be  set 
off  against  another.  If  safe,  slow  ways  of  producing  involve 
a  reduction  in  profits,  we  must  see  that  the  human  waste  re- 
sulting from  dangerous,  quick  ways  shall  involve  a  greater  re- 
duction in  profits.  This  is  not  because  the  employer  is  wicke«I 
and  must  be  punished,  but  because  he.  like  most  of  us,  is  held 
closely  in  the   grip  of  economic  motives."     (Ibid.,   p.    114.) 

"The  wage  earner's  work,  however  individually  managed 
and  controlled,  however  competitively  bargained  for.  is  a  part 
of  a  great  undertaking  in  wiiich  society  as  a  whole  shares  and 
by  which  it  profits.  If  in  many  of  the  fundamental  operations 
of  this  undertaking  there  is  constant  danger  to  life  and  limb, 
it  is  not  just  that  those  whose  lot  falls  in  this  part  of  the 
work  should  endure  not  only  all  the  |)hysical  torture  that 
comes  with  injury,  but  also  ahni>st  the  entire  economic  loss 
which  inevitably  follows  it.  .  .  .  The  physical  suflering  of 
the  injured  we  cannot  share.  \Vc  cannot  satisfy  the  longing 
or  lessen  the  grief.  Hut  the  economic  loss  we  can  share.  Our 
failure  to  do  this  is  an  injustice  to  the  wage  earner;  and  the 
outcome  of  this  injustice  is  misery."     (Ibid.,  p.  152.) 

I'roper  care  of  persons  out  of  work  is  an  efhcicnt  means 
of  preventing  such  persons  from  underbidding  the  prevailing 
rates  of  wages,  and  thereby  maintaining  an  existing  level. 
(Report  of  I'nited  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  igog.  p   20.) 

Out  of  16.^74  brewery  workers  within  a  two-year  period 
I  72^  met  with'i.'>8l  industrial  accidents,  disabling  thetn  for  an 
aggregate  period  <4  r^.y>'>  «la>s.  That  is.  the  i.vrrage  tunc 
laid  off  was  27.0  days,  or  almost  four  weeks  ( I  helps,  fcd- 
ward   Bunnell,  United  States   Hrewers'  Association  > 

"The  employment  of  children  has  increased  with  the 
reduction    of   wages,   and   the    employment   of   adults   has   rtc- 

4^ 


creased  with  the  employment  of  children."     (Fell,  New  Jersey 
Insp.  Factories  and  Workshops,   1884.  p.  19.) 

"The  employment  of  children  is  assigned  by  these  reports 
(state  statistics  on  unemployment)  as  one  of  the  chief  causes 
for  the  idleness  of  working  men  and  women.  If  child  labor 
could  be  abolished  to-day  there  are  probably  enough  adults 
out  of  employment  and  willing  to  work  to  fill  their  places." 
(Colorado  Bureau  Labor  Statistics,  1901-2.) 


B.     FEDERAL,  STATE,  OR  FOREIGN  LAWS  ON 
COMPENSATION  OR  INSURANCE 

Workmen's  Compensation  Laws  were  enacted  in  ten 
states  in  1911.     The  main  provisions  are  as  follows: 

Death. — Compensation  equal  to  about  3  years'  wages  in 
California,  Kansas,  Massachusetts,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire. 
Minimum  awards,  $1,000  in  California,  $1,200  in  Kansas  and 
Massachusetts,  and  $2,000  in  Nevada.  Maximum  awards,  $5,000 
in  California,  $3,600  in  Kansas,  and  $3,000  in  Massachusetts, 
Nevada,  and  New  Hampshire.  Compensation  equal  to  about 
4  years'  wages  in  Illinois,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin;  with  mini- 
mum award  of  $1,500  in  each  state,  and  maximum  awards 
of  $3,500,  $3,400,  and  $3,000  in  order  given.  New  Jersey 
awards  from  $1,500  to  $3,000,  according  to  circumstances; 
Washington  from  $20  to  $35  a  month  during  dependency  or 
childhood.  Ohio  and  Washington  pay  funeral  expenses.  In 
nearly  all  cases  compensation  is  greatly  reduced  where  there 
are  no  dependents. 

Total  Disability. — Compensation  equal  to  about  50  per 
cent,  of  weekly  wages  in  Illinois,  Kansas,  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  New  Jersey;  60  per  cent,  in  Nevada;  65  per  cent, 
in  California,  and  Wisconsin;  and  662-3  per  cent,  in  Ohio. 
Yearly  wages  on  which  to  reckon  compensation:  minimum  in 
California,  $333.33;  Wisconsin,  $375;  Massachusetts,  $400;  Illi- 
nois, New  Jersey,  and  Ohio,  $520;  Kansas,  $624.  Maximum, 
Wisconsin,  $750;  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  New 
Jersey,  $1,040;  Illinois  and  Ohio,  $1,248;  Kansas,  $1,560;  Cali- 
fornia, $1,666.66;  Nevada,  $3,000.  Time  limits:  California, 
780  weeks;  Illinois,  416;  Kansas,  520;  Massachusetts,  500;  New 
Hampshire,  300;  New  Jersey,  300-400;  Ohio,  312;  Wisconsin, 
780. 

Partial  Disability. — Compensation  equal  to  50  per  cent, 
weekly  wages  in  Illinois,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey;  60  per  cent,  in  Nevada;  65  per  cent,  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Wisconsin;  662-3  in  Ohio;  Kansas,  25  per  cent.- 
75  per  cent.;  Washington,  according  to  degree  of  disability. 
California,  Illinois,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  and  Wis- 
consin place  same  maximum  compensation  and  time  limit  as 
in  case  of  total  disability.  Kansas  gives  same  time  limit; 
Massachusetts,  Nevada,  and  Ohio  same  maximum  compensa- 
tion; California,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin  give  same  minimum 
compensation. 

In  all  states  except  Ohio  the  employer  is  sole  contributor. 
In  Ohio  the  employe  may  be  assessed  10  per  cent,  of  the  cost 
of  insurance. 

Act  of  19 10 — Employer's  Liability  Act  (New  York  State). 

I.  Shifts  burden  of  proof  of  contributory  negligence  to 
employer. 

44 


3.  Makes  "fellow  servant"  not  apply  to  anyone  exercis- 
ing authority,  that  is.  any  foreman  or  boss. 

3.  The  workman  can  only  be  held  responsible  for  as- 
sumption of  risk  when  the  employe  knows  the  risk  but  does 
not  notify  the  employer  of  it;  and  the  employer  does  not  know 
and  cannot  discover  by  reasonable  care,  tests,  inspection,  etc. 

Barnes  Act  of  1906  (New  York  State). 

Applies  to  railroads.  Practically  same  as  act  of  1910. 
Excludes  from  class  of  "fellow  servant"  anyone  operating 
signals,  switches,  locomotive  engines,  cars,  trains,  or  tele- 
graph offices.  Makes  the  mere  existence  of  defect  which  the 
employer  could  have  discovered  by  reasonable  care,  etc., 
prima  facie  evidence  of  negligence  on  part  of  employer. 

Compensation  laws  have  been  enacted  in  26  foreign  states. 
In  Belgium  and  Great  Britain  they  apply  to  practically  all 
employments.  In  Austria,  Belgium.  Germany,  Denmark.  Fin- 
land, Italy,  Luxembourg.  Netherlands.  Norway.  Russia.  Spain, 
and  Switzerland  only  wage  earners,  and  in  some  cases  those 
exposed  to  the  same  risk,  such  as  overseers  and  technical 
experts,  come  within  the  scope  of  the  law.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  France,  Great  Britain,  the  British  Colonies,  and  in 
Hungary,  the  laws  apply  to  salaried  employes  and  work- 
men equally,  except  that  overseers  and  technical  experts  earn- 
ing more  than  a  prescribed  amount  are  excluded  in  several 
countries.  The  entire  burden  of  compensation  rests  upon  the 
employer  in  all  but  six  countries — Austria,  Germany,  Greece, 
Hungary,  Luxembourg,  and  New  South  Wales — where  the 
employes  bear  part  of  the  expenses.  The  laws  in  every  case 
fix  the  compensation  to  be  paid,  and  usually  compensation  is 
based  upon  the  wages  received  by  the  injured  person. 

In  Denmark  compensation  in  case  of  permanent  dis- 
ability equals  six  times  the  annual  earnings,  and  proportionate 
payments  for  partial  permanent  disability.  In  Great  Britain 
compensation  for  death  equals  three  years'  earnings.  In  Italy 
compensation  for  death,  if  occurring  within  two  years  after 
accident,  is  five  times  the  annual  wages;  and  if  permanent 
disability,  six  times  annual  wages. 

SOCIAL  INSURANCE. 

(Taken  from  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Labor,  iQog,  "Workmen's  Insurance  and  Compensation  Sys- 
tems in  Europe."  Methods  cited  in  order  of  development  of 
modern  most  approved   systems.) 

1.  ACCIDENT  INSURANCE: 

a.  Systems  of  pure  compensation,  in  which  employer  must 
provide  compensation  accordinii  to  scale  specified  in  law.  with- 
out any  obligation  to  insure  in  advance.  Belgium,  Denmark, 
F'rance.  Great  Britain,  Greece.  Russia.  Spain. 

b.  Law  establishes  individual  responsibility  of  employer, 
and  requires  him  to  take  out  insurance  in  certain  private  or 
state  institutions,  or  to  furnish  guaranty  sufficient  to  cover 
his  responsibility.     Finland.  Italy,  the  Netherlands. 

c.  Law  requires  employer  to  insure  in  specified  manner  Of 
specified  institution.  Austria.  Germany.  Hungary.  Luxem- 
bourg, Norway. 

2.  SICKNESS  INSURANCE:  . 
a.     Free,    unregulated    mutual    benefit    societies.       Russia, 

Spain. 


b.  Government  regulation.  Individual  societies  encour- 
aged, by  certain  privileges,  but  not  compelled  to  submit  to 
government  regulation.  Great  Britain,  Finland,  Netherlands, 
Italy,  Sweden. 

c.  Government  subsidies  to  benefit  societies.  Belgium, 
Denmark,  France. 

d.  Compulsory  insurance.  Shifts  part  of  burden  from  em- 
ploye to  employer.  Germany,  Austria,  Hungary,  Luxem- 
bourg, Norvi^ay. 

3.  MATERNITY  INSURANCE: 

(Purposes:  to  assist  mothers;  to  reduce  infant  mortality.) 

Germany  combines  maternity  insurance  with  sickness  in- 
surance system. 

France,  no  specific  legislation,  maternity  insurance  granted 
by  many  private  societies. 

Russia  requires  employers  to  furnish  medical  aid,  in  some 
cases  with  hospitals  and  midwives  in  constant  attendance. 

Austria  combines  maternity  with  sickness  insurance 
system. 

Italy  (proposed  law)  national  maternity  insurance  system, 
compulsory.  , 

4.  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE. 

a.  Voluntary  systems  not  receiving  government  subsidies. 
Funds  for  special  industries  from  contributions  of  workmen 
and  employers,  Austria,  Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Great 
Britain,  Poland.  Trade  Unions,  Friendly  Societies,  Mutual 
Aid  Societies,  mostly  in  Great  Britain,  Austria,  Belgium, 
France,  Germany,  Italy. 

b.  Voluntary  systems,  receiving  government  subsidies. 
Belgium..  France,  Italy,  Portugal,  Spain. 

c.  Compulsory  insurance  (contributions  of  insured  and 
employers),  National  systems,  Austria  (salaried  persons  only), 
France,  Germany.  Special  industries:  mining,  Austria,  France, 
Russia;  navigation,  Belgium,  France;  railroads,  France,  Italy, 
Russia,  Belgium;  government  industrial  establishments, 
France,  Italy,  Russia;  etc. 

d.  Ncn-contributory  systems:  pensions  paid  from  state 
revenues.  Great  Britain,  France,  Denmark,  certain  Austral- 
asian countries. 

5.  INVALIDITY  INSURANCE: 

a.  Voluntary  systems  not  receiving  government  subsidies. 
(Usually  done  in  connection  with  old  age,  or  sick  benefits.) 
Friendly  societies  in  Great  Britain,  trade  unions  in  Germany, 
mutual  benefit  societies  in  Belgium,  France,  and  Italy. 

b.  Voluntary  systems  receiving  government  subsidies. 
Belgium,  France,  Italy. 

c.  Compulsory  insurance.  Combined  with  old  age  insur- 
ance, Austria,  France,  Germany.  (France,  miners,  railway 
employes;   Belgium,  railway  employes,  seamen.) 

d.  Non-contributory  systems  of  insurance.  France,  Aus- 
tralian federation,  Victoria,  Denmark,  New  South  Wales. 

6.  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE: 

a.  Voluntary  organizations  not  receiving  government  sub- 
sidies. Trade  unions.  Great  Britain  and  the  continent  (out- 
of-work,  travel,  and  removal  benefits.) 

b.  Voluntary    organizations    receiving    government    sub- 

46 


sidies.     Belgium   (Ghent  system).   France,  Norway.   Denmark. 
Germany. 

GHENT  SYSTEM. 

The  following  summary  of  the  plan  of  unemployment  in- 
surance in  Ghent  describes  the  most  significant  system  in 
Europe:  Unemployment  committee,  established  1900  Under- 
lying principle:  Help  in  proportion  to  self-help;  i.  e..  if  worker 
himself  provides  against  unemployment,  by  joining  an  asso- 
ciation granting  out-of-work  benefits  to  members;  or  by  plac- 
ing funds  in  a  bank,  he  may  upon  unemployment  receive  from 
city  committee  a  grant  of  money  in  direct  proportion  to 
amount  received  from  association,  or  drawn  from  bank. 

Committee  appointed  by  communal  council,  consisting  of 
councillors  and  representatives  of  afhiiated  associations.  Sub- 
sidy paid  only  in  case  of  involuntary  unemployment,  including 
fire  and  breakdown  of  machinery;  not  including  unemployment 
due  to  strikes,  lock-outs,  sickness,  or  other  physical  incapacity. 
Payment  made  through  affiliated  associations  wherever  pos- 
sible. 

Committee  works  in  cooperation  with  municipal  labor  ex- 
change. Workmen  claiming  grants  required  to  register  at  ex- 
change, and  are  bound  to  accept  suitable  work  offered,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  grant.  Daily  registration — now  required 
by  many  trade  unions — will  probably  be  required  in  near  fu- 
ture. Adult  men  and  women  aie  treated  on  same  basis;  chil- 
dren receive  a  smaller  rate;  present  number  of  members  in- 
sured is  20,000. 

"The  existence  of  the  scheme  has  had  a  most  important 
effect  on  the  unions.  .  .  .  They  have  come  to  look  upon 
themselves  not  simply  as  armies  drilled  to  make  war  on  em- 
ployers, but  as  instruments  of  general  social  organization  and 
progress,  fulfilling  most  important  functions  in  the  common- 
wealth, even  apart  from  their  functions  as  protectors  of  the 
workman  against  the  employer."  (Gibbon.  I.  G..  "Unemploy- 
ment Insurance,"  p.  89.) 

In  Bavaria  the  commune  is  responsible  by  law  for  the 
labor  bureau.  Central  employment  bureaus  in  the  largest 
Bavarian  cities  are  connected  with  outlying  bureaus  into  one 
system.  No  fees  are  charged;  the  entire  cost  being  defrayed 
by  the  municipality  assisted  by  grants  from  the  Bavarian  gov- 
ernment. 

England  recently  established  a  system  of  National  Em- 
ployment Exchanges  which  follow  the  German  system,  ex- 
cept that  while  the  German  exchanges,  though  coordinated  and 
encouraged  to  some  extent  by  State  and  Imperial  Govern- 
ments, are  mainly  municipal  in  scope;  the  English  system  is 
uniform  and  national  in  character.  Eighty-two  labor  ex- 
changes were  opened  in  February,  1910.  January,  191 1.  the 
number  increased  to   148,  and  by  September.  191 1.  to  338. 

C.    STANDARDS     ON     COMPENSATION'     OR     INSUR- 
ANCE ALREADY  ACCEPTED. 

The  principles  upon  which  the  system  of  compulsory 
insurance  advocated  by  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers of  the  United  States  is  based  arc  as  follows: 

I.  All  legislation  must  be  for  compensation;  2.  compensa- 
tion legislation  must  cover  every  wafjc-workcr;  3,  compensa- 
tion must  be  assured;  4,  compensation  must  be  efficient;  5.  em- 


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ployer  and  employe  are  jointly  responsible  for  all  unprevent- 
able  accidents,  and  should  therefore  jointly  meet  the  compen- 
sation expenditures;  6,  every  injury  except  those  due  to 
criminal  carelessness  or  drunkenness  on  the  part  of  the  worker 
should  be  compensated;  7,  humanity  and  efficiency  demand 
that  prevention  of  accidents  is  made  of  prime  importance;  8, 
since  the  progressive  individual  usually  provides  voluntarily 
for  reasonable  accident  compensation,  it  is  right  that  the  re- 
actionary or  selfish  individual  be  compelled  to  do  likewise, 
through  universal  compulsory  insurance;  9,  to  prevent  unfair 
competition  between  employers  in  dififerent  localities,  it  is 
necessary  that  compensation  laws  of  the  various  States  are 
reasonably  uniform;  10,  single  liability  is  essential  for  reasons 
of  efficiency  and  equity.  (Schwedtmann,  Prof.  F.  C,  before 
the  International  Association  of  Factory  Inspectors,  1911. 
See  report,  p.  22.) 

"The  common  law  system  of  employers'  liability  based 
upon  negligence  with  its  defences  of  contributory  negligence, 
assumption  of  risk,  and  fellow  servant's  fault.  .  .  .  has 
been  outgrown  and  should  be  abandoned,  substituting  for  it  a 
law  based  not  upon  the  fault  but  upon  the  fact  of  injury,  a 
law  that  would  recognize  as  its  basis  that  injuries  to  work- 
men under  existing  conditions  should  be  regarded  as  risks  of 
the  industry."  (United  States  Com.  to  Investigate  Employers' 
Liability  and  Workmen's  Compensation.) 

The  consensus  of  opinion  among  delegates  to  the  last  in- 
ternational conference  on  social  insurance  in  Dresden  was 
that  compulsory  state  insurance  should  be  limited  to  the  wage 
earners,  and  to  certain  risks  only.  Such  insurance  so  limited 
is  not  like  private  insurance  and  ordinary  commercial  enter- 
prises, but  has  a  social  or  relief  aspect.  The  humane  element, 
social  responsibility,  is  therefore  a  sine  qua  non  of  the  juris- 
prudence of  a  national  insurance  system.  (Brodsky,  Ran- 
dolph T.,  "Is  the  German  Industrial  Insurance  System  a  Fail- 
ure?"    Survey,  May  4,    1912.) 

"We  stand  for  insurance  against  death  or  accident  in  in- 
dustry; industrial  arbitration;  care  of  dependent  and  incapable 
persons."     (Presbyterian  Bureau  of  Social  Service.) 

"Each  city  shall  have  a  thoroughly  equipped  bureau  for 
the  assistance  of  those  out  of  work.  The  bureau  to  co- 
operate with  similar  bureaus  of  other  cities  and  states  so  that 
both  the  industrial  and  agricultural  fields  shall  be  thoroughly 
covered.  .  .  .  Public  works  and  public  institutions  in 
various  lines  to  be  executed  so  as  to  give  work  to  the  un- 
employed.    (Socialist  Party.) 

"The  Churches  must  stand  for  suitable  provision  for  the 
old  age  of  the  workers  and  for  those  incapacitated  by  in- 
jury." (Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America.) 

"We  hold  that  our  Church  ought  to  declare  for  some 
provision  by  which  the  burden  imposed  by  injuries  and  deaths 
from  industrial  accidents  shall  not  be  permitted  to  rest  upon 
the  injured  person  or  his  family."  (Presbyterian  Board  of 
Home  Missions.) 

"In  all  pursuits  where  irregular  employment  is  one  of  its 
regular  accompanying  features  the  wage  should  be  graded  so 
that  it  will  furnish  at  least  continuous  subsistence."  (Order 
of  Railway  Conductors  of  America.) 


48 

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